News

RE: “Airbrushing Diversity”: Parents of Down Syndrome Children Tell of Abortion Pressures
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/mar/08030303.html

  Dear editor,
 
  Thank you for your article on “Airbrushing Diversity.”  As a mother of a beautiful daughter with Down syndrome, it saddens me very much to know the extent to which our society rejects these special babies before birth. 
 
  It is especially hurtful to know that influential medical organizations such as the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada recommend testing the babies of all pregnant women for Down syndrome.
 
  When a mother learns her unborn child has Down syndrome, she may initially feel fear and sadness.  But she needs to know that the one thing prenatal testing cannot tell her is the joy her special child will bring.

If she aborts her child, the fear may go away, but the sadness will remain.  Always.

However, if she allows her baby to live, she will discover that the reality isn’t as daunting as the fear, and her special child will transform her sadness into joy. 

Health issues can mostly be medically corrected or treated.  My daughter had heart surgery as an infant and is doing great. She has a radiant smile, an infectious laugh, and has a great sense of humor.  She is elementary school age and is reading, doing simple Math, and doing lots of things other girls do.  Sure there are challenges, but they pale in comparison to the joy she brings.
 
  My daughter is truly one of the greatest blessings of my life.  I thank God every day for choosing me to be her mother and for giving me the unique privilege of being a mother of a child with Down syndrome.
 
  Mothers, be not afraid.  The world will be a better place with your child in it.
 
  Eileen Haupt
  Jericho, Vermont

____________________________________

Dear Editor

In 1972 our Federal Government of the day held a “Population Conference” in Halifax, Nova Scotia.  The participants in that conference determined that the birth rate in Canada was 1.76 children per family in English-speaking Canada and 1.23 in French Canada.  The forecast was that we were going to go from a rate of 1 in 12 over the age 65 in 1972 to 1 in 5 over the age of 65 by 2025.  Canada, therefore, was going to need 180,000 immigrants a year to maintain our Social Welfare Structure.
 
  The Canada Pension Plan started costing us money in 1978 and there is currently a $600 billion shortfall in the Plan.
 
  Most of our older Senior Citizen homes were only designed to handle maybe 10% of chronic care; to-day you can’t get in unless you need care.  Large numbers of “single occupancy rooms”, become double occupancy when the former occupants die.  It is much quicker to change bedridden patients in their beds than to help them to a toilet, and so this is becoming standard practice.
 
  This is only the tip of the ice berg of the costs of looking after an aging population with very few workers to pay the bills and provide the physical care required.  Canada is currently conditioning its aging population to accept euthanasia.  After accepting the killing of our unborn in the 1960’s, we are going to accept the killing of our elderly. It’s only a matter of time, because we don’t have the moral conditioning to do otherwise. 
 
  We will soon understand the phrase “History repeats itself.”
 
  Sincerely
  Liam Venner
  Whitby Ontario

____________________________________
To write a letter to the Editor: E-mail your letter to [email protected]. Write “letter to the editor” in the subject line. Include your name, city and province or state of residence, as well as your phone # (the phone # is for our use only, and will not be published). Please note that all letters are subject to editing. LifeSiteNews.com will publish letters to the editor at its discretion, giving priority to the most concise, insightful and timely submissions.