Yeah, so in my never-ending (but more calm lately) sadness and anger over the abortion issue, I have been noticing things. In particular, I read a few weeks back that more babies are aborted with Down Syndrome each year than are born with it. And since I read that, it's all I can think of every time I see a person who has Down's. Two weeks ago at the Fuel concert there was a young man playing hackeysack with a group of guys. The following Sunday we sat behind a family in church who had a toddler with Down's. (She was the youngest of 6!) And then today as I came back from lunch, I passed two guys coming out of the computer store with an iMac. That's four in two weeks and there are so many more. What if their mothers had decided to "spare" them a difficult life, and "humanely" had them terminated before they were even born?



Down Syndrome is not a disease incompatible with life. It is a challenge, but so many people who have it live long and full lives. They can work, live on their own, everything. But some parents can't see that... they hear "problem", "disease", "abnormality", "retardation" and they think "Better not to be born at all, than to have to live with something like that!" But they're wrong! They're so, so wrong!



Everyone has their cross to bear, even "healthy" children will have their own hardships. A disability is not a death sentence, it is a challenge. People live with them every day. But I guess those who don't have a physical disability, or know anyone who has one, don't realize it. "Our perfect family won't be perfect!" they think, and they kill their children rather than adapt to them. It's sad, really. I feel sorry for them. I feel even sorrier for their little boys and girls who will never see a sunset, smell a flower, or know how it feels to be loved.



How many mothers in my position would choose to do what I face? Because the chances are good that half of my children will have muscular dystrophy. Does that mean I shouldn't have any kids? It's not my call. It's not up to me. But if I'm meant to have them, then I'll have them, and I'll love them, no matter what burdens they bring with them. That's the way families operate.



How many mothers today would choose to abort me, if I was conceived now instead of 23 years ago? How much would I have missed?



What about the little boy with MD who died this week? Fourteen years old I think. Poet. People around the world have read what he had to say. Should he never have had the opportunity to say it?



We all have the right to live, whatever our crosses are. Why can't people realize this?