If I Knew My Daughter Had Down Syndrome, I Would Have Aborted Her – All Women Should Have That Right – 

Can I just say that absolutely loathe this woman? What about you? What would you do if faced with the same prospects? 

By Hallie Levine

Ohio is poised to become the second state in this country to ban abortion because of a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome this fall.  As a pro-choice woman who has a 7-year-old daughter with Down syndrome, I find this absolutely appalling.  This is an issue that hits close to home for me: If I had had a prenatal diagnosis, I would have obtained an abortion.

Today, I am beyond grateful that I didn’t. But I cannot ever in any circumstances imagine insisting others not have that right.

Studies vary, but anywhere from 67 percent to 85 percent of women who learn their baby has Down Syndrome terminate their pregnancies, according to a 2012 University of South Carolina review published in the medical journal Prenatal Diagnosis. Ironically, I asked my doctor several times for an amniocentesis. She talked me out of it, emphasizing that the blood screening tests I’d taken boasted over a 90-percent detection rate. The uneasiness and anxiety I experienced throughout my pregnancy were blown off as first-mom jitters. (“Maybe you need to go on Zoloft,” the head of perinatology told me after I peppered him with questions during my 18-week ultrasound.)

Source: If I Knew My Daughter Had Down Syndrome, I Would Have Aborted Her – All Women Should Have That Right – Fashion and lifestyle News – Yahoo Style Canada