By Elizabeth O’Brien
WASHINGTON, DC, July 24, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – On Wednesday Senators Sam Brownback and Edward Kennedy reintroduced the Pre-natally and Post-natally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act (PPDCAA), which proposes to offer information and services for expectant and young mothers of handicapped children.
According to a recent press release from Brownback’s office, the PPDCAA, which is an amendment to the Public Health Service Act, would ensure that care is offered not only during the woman’s pregnancy, but throughout the year following the child’s birth as well.
The PPDCAA also states that resources and services for expectant mothers of disabled babies include, “a resource telephone hotline and Internet website; a clearinghouse of scientific information, clinical course, life expectancy, development potential, and quality of life relating to Down syndrome or other pre-natally diagnosed conditions; the establishment of national and local peer-support programs.”
In addition, the act proposes the establishment of registries of families that are willing to adopt handicapped newborns. It also offers, “links to adoption agencies willing to place babies with Down syndrome or other prenatally diagnosed conditions, with families willing to adopt. It also seeks to provide “awareness and education programs for health care providers who provide the results of prenatal tests for Down syndrome or other prenatally diagnosed conditions.”
Conservative Republican Senator and presidential candidate Brownback has called himself “proudly” and “unequivocally” pro-life. Referring to the PPDCAA, he stated, “We as a society must offer as much protection as we can to ‘the least of these.’” He continued, “When a mother receives the news that her unborn child may be born with a disability, she should be supplied with current and reliable information about the many options available for caring for children with disabilities.”
In an adapted excerpt from a book by Brownback, entitled “From Power to Purpose: A Remarkable Journey of Faith and Compassion”, the Senator stated that the PPDCAA, “provides that any family given a diagnosis of Down syndrome or any other condition would be connected with the necessary support structure. The bill ensures that each family would get sound and balanced information, connection to support services and information about the possibility of adoption so families would not be misled and children could be saved.” According to Brownback, 80 to 90% of babies that are diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted.
Staunchly pro-abortion Senator Ted Kennedy commented on the Act in the same press release, saying, “One of the hardest moments in the life of an expectant mother is when she receives news that she is going to have a child with special needs.” He continued, “Access to the best support and information about the condition, and the quality of life for a child born with that condition, can make all the difference to a woman trying to make an informed and difficult decision. I believe this kind of support is a vital element to strengthening a true culture of life in America.”
The document states that pregnant women who undergo prenatal screening should be able to have “nondirective counseling” about their child’s condition and that “informed consent” is a “critical component” of all genetic testing. Nevertheless, Kennedy’s ambiguous statement regarding the type of “difficult decision” to be made by a mother expecting a physically or mentally challenged child raises concerns for pro-life advocates, in light of the Senator’s vehemently pro-abortion track record.
Calls to Senator Kennedy’s office were not returned by press time.
Read related LifeSiteNews coverage:
Interview with U.S. Presidential Candidate Sam Brownback: Unequivocally Pro-Life, Passionately Pro-Family
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jan/07012601.html
Read the full text of the PPDCAA:
https://www.theorator.com/bills109/s609.html
Read Brownback Press Release
https://brownback.senate.gov/pressapp/record.cfm?id=279251
Sam Brownback: Don’t Pressure Parents to Abort Disabled Babies:
https://www.kansas.com/205/story/122372.html