Does Iceland Kill Baby Who Has Down Syndrome
Ilinca, iii, blows a kiss to a steward subsequently completing a gymnastics routine during a competition marking the World Down Syndrome Twenty-four hour period, in Bucharest, Romania, on Mon, March. 21, 2016.
Andreea Alexandru, Associated Press
There has been a lot of talk about the "eradication" of Down syndrome in Iceland. When using the word "eradication," we often think most illness and are happy that science has had a breakthrough. Is that what is going on in Iceland, though? It seems a better word would exist genocide.
Earlier emotions flair, let's think well-nigh what genocide ways. It is simply the deliberate, systematic endeavour to erase a category of people. Is what is happening in Iceland eradicating a disease or the genocide of people with Down's syndrome? I believe we are looking at genocide.
Few U.S. citizens will say, "I don't believe in equality" but plenty will act on the assumption that the rights of the presumably more capable trump the rights of the presumably less.
Reducing a human to the sum of their cells is a slippery slope, one with disastrous results historically. Take, for example, China's ane-child policy from the late '70s and '80s. Combined with cultural pressures, this policy forced Chinese families to be selective over the sex of their one kid. As a result, millions of petty girls, both preborn and post-born, were either aborted or abandoned. Years later, their absence was felt as China faced a generation of mostly men, unable to produce families for the lack of women. The void left from the abortion and abandonment of millions of women even garnered a nickname from Nobel prize winner Amartya Kumar Sen — China's "missing girls," Sen calculated that the deficit of Chinese women to have reached the millions, with cultural and economical impacts still lingering in People's republic of china today.
Non only has the eradication of those with Down syndrome usurped the rights of a minority. It has as well deprived society of farther advancements in science and medicine.
When it comes to contributing to science and culture, the actress chromosome 21 offers some unique benefits. In 2017, Frank Stephens, proud owner of an extra chromosome 21 and a Quincy Jones Advocate for the Global Down's syndrome Foundation, outlined some of these benefits in a powerful speech to the Massachusetts House Appropriations Subcommittee.
"I don't feel I should take to justify my being." said Stephens, "Only to those who question the value of people with Down syndrome. ... Starting time, we are a medical gift to society, a blueprint for medical research into cancer, Alzheimer'due south, and immune system disorders. ... Secondly, we are an unusually powerful source of happiness. A Harvard-based report has discovered that people with DS as well as their parents and sibling are happier than society, at big."
Thankfully, fifty-fifty in trying times, at that place is hope. Other countries like Poland, and U.S. states like Florida, Arizona and South Dakota have introduced bills that would help protect people with special needs from this newest form of bigotry and genocide. Cheering on these life-saving bills is a stunning assortment of pro-life medical professionals, humanitarian organizations and families, all speaking the truth that a person is more the sum of their cells. This is our hope for our neighbors with special needs — to exist seen as human, and nix less.
There are simple actions we tin can take to honor the humanity of our neighbors with special needs. For example, nosotros can mark our calendars for special needs awareness days like World Down syndrome Solar day (March 21), World Autism Awareness Mean solar day (April 2) and World Cerebral Palsy Solar day (Oct. six), and set up apart these days to celebrate those who are different from united states of america.
I of the simplest and about powerful deportment we can take is using our words to pause the stigmas associated with having special needs. When celebrating a pregnancy, instead of proverb, "I don't care if it'southward a boy or girl, as long as it'due south good for you," which may imply that a baby with special needs has less value, instead say, "I don't care if it's a boy or girl. We're just excited to meet who God is sending to our family!"
And lastly, when working to be more inclusive, we can keep Stephens' request in mind.
"See me as a human being," he says, "non a birth defect, not a syndrome. I don't demand to be eradicated. I don't need to be cured. I demand to exist loved, valued, educated and, sometimes, helped."
Robyn Chambers is the executive director of advocacy for children at Focus on the Family. Chambers works with a multifariousness of pro-life organizations, providing ultrasound machines and sonography training to qualified pro-life medical clinics in high-abortion communities.
Source: https://www.deseret.com/opinion/2021/3/20/22340440/world-down-syndrome-day-eradication-iceland-genocide-humanity-special-needs
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