[...] in response to President Obama’s comments on Leno, that I refuse to go head-to-head with my sister Rebekah, who has Down syndrome, since she has routinely shellacked me in the past. My presence in games of [...]

hugs and smiles, vickey

I can guarantee you that Palin didn’t have Trig to prove some pro-life point. When my parents heard that she’d had a child with DS, their first reaction was, “What a blessing!” It’s not political at all. It’s life.

I’m certainly glad to see a family that, for the most part, lives up the the values system they espouse. But let’s make it clear: no one’s perfect, and my sense of morality doesn’t come from some public figure’s lack of failure. If the Palin’s didn’t live up to anything they claim to believe, it doesn’t make those beliefs any less true. It just makes them hypocrites. And anyway, haven’t we all failed to live up to even our own moral code?

Declaration of the statistic shouldn’t be hushed just because you’re offended by hearing that 90% of positive tests for Down Syndrome end with the mother aborting the baby. That’s simply a statistic. If you’re uncomfortable by the clear cut example of eugenics, maybe you should be doing something to change it rather than plea for others to quit mentioning it. I’m not trying to push a political agenda here; I’m crying out in the face of a horrendous injustice that no one seems to understand or take seriously.

If you have problems with certain people’s or organization’s depiction of Palin’s baby in the political arena, take it up with them. My intent here was to use my personal experience with my sister to show that’s she’s not “suffering” or “afflicted.” She loves, hates, cries, laughs, thinks, screws up, triumphs, and does everything else I do. Not to the same degree most of the time, but at what point on the sliding scale of human value does our society not only think it’s okay, but implore us to cut the fat? Reading people discuss how people with DS aren’t worth having because they aren’t productive enough, that they’re a burden rather than a contributor… it breaks my heart. Please explain why I shouldn’t be allowed to call this stealth eugenics like I see it.

Until you’ve been part of a family that’s had to deal with the public–and shockingly, the medical community–and their misunderstanding of DS, you just wouldn’t understand. When my mother had Rebekah, all sorts of people came out of the woodwork to give her “advice” about how hard it would be, how society wouldn’t accept Rebekah, how Rebekah really wouldn’t be all that smart, and on and on and on.

So should people be using this child to further their political agenda? Of course not. But a little support to Mrs. Palin isn’t undeserved. She had to face a whole culture mistakenly telling her that she was going to put this little bundle of joy through unnecessary suffering and should really consider aborting the child instead. And who are you to declare that God couldn’t have possibly delivered this child for whatever reason He deems fit? Have you not read some of the stuff God did in the Bible? He’s really not at all like the warm, fuzzy, Santa-Claus-in-the-sky god that our culture has designed.

I have read blogs that act as though Governor Palin’s decision to have the baby made her a saint BECAUSE of the misconceptions about Down syndrome.

As I remarked in my blog, “OK. You have an agenda. Palin isn’t pro-choice. She was going to carry any fetus to term, God-willing. But don’t make out Governor Palin’s son to be less of a human being because you want people to vote for her.

And insinuating that God gave her son Down syndrome or some such bullcrap as a way to save millions of unborn children is just sick.”

found here:
http://www.citizenpained.com/2008/09/nro-hotair-others-need-to-stop-with.html

I’m pro-choice but not pro-using-your-children-for-political-gain-and-fueling-misconceptions-about-children-with-disabilities.

I agreed with many of your points, though.

best
ja

PS I elected to not have testing done as it’s potentially dangerous to the fetus.

But what I just can’t seem to stomach is the relative truth of the whole matter. There are over 1 million abortions yearly in America and yet the Dems don’t consider these people the least of these. By definition, the people that can least help themselves are those in the womb. The older I get, the less this makes sense. I used to be at least understanding of the position: “I don’t like abortions, but I don’t think the govt. should interfere.” I have now changed my mind.

Despite our culture’s best attempts to adhere to relative truth, we still think cold-blooded murder is wrong. And well, I think that’s what abortion is quite frankly, and it should be illegal, but it is especially atrocious with regards to the least, least of these (those unborn with health defects). This very foundational truth outweighs choice and vain conceptions of “suffering.” My wfie works with teenagers through young life, and sadly knows many teenages who’ve had abortions (the numbers would astound you). I now have infinite respect for teenage pregnancies. I will never judge that again.

This curious fellow above, HeriocLife, develops little argumentation and is devoid of coherence. And, as you pointed out, Kev, is riddled with logical fallacies. His own worldview is incoherent, which is probably representative of the fact that he didn’t even read your post…..