National Right to Life
In light of an extremely troubling August 14 CBS News report documenting that virtually 100% of all babies prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome in Iceland are aborted, I wondered how long it would take for the usual suspects to blast proponents of Ohio’s S.B. 164, the Down Syndrome Non-Discrimination Act. As it turned out, about three days.
First, a few words of background. A week ago today, according to Ohio Right to Life,
“Parent advocates, medical professionals and others joined Ohio Right to Life with supporting testimony in favor of this important legislation in front of the Senate Health, Human Services, and Medicaid Committee.”
In addition to Jessica Koehler of Ohio Right to Life, “four parent advocates testified on behalf of this legislation, along with two medical professionals, Dr. Dennis Sullivan, Director of the Center for Bioethics at Cedarville University, and Kelly Kuhns, RN, BSN, a labor and delivery nurse.”
So what would S.B. 164 do? Pure and simple it “seeks to prohibit abortions that are committed for the sole reason of a Down syndrome diagnosis.”
So what is a good “there never is a bad reason to abort” feminist to say? How about “Anti-Abortion Activists Are Using Down Syndrome Parents to Argue Against Women’s Rights”?Writing for Slate.com, Christina Cauterucci’s opening paragraphs are semi-coherent and make an ever-so-slight nod in the direction of fairness.
For example, “Advocates contend that a society that encourages women to terminate fetuses with Down syndrome is one that ascribes less value to a child with Down syndrome, which leads to discrimination against people living with the condition.” Ah, yes.
In the next sentence, however, Cauterucci is off to the races. “In the U.S., anti-abortion leaders are hijacking this rhetoric of the disability rights movement to argue against women’s rights to choose their own future for their families and bodies.”
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