A very humbling reminder that all this prenatal testing / pregnancy termination stuff is complex, a difficult (and private/individual) decision, and heartbreaking:

http://www.slate.com/articles/double_x/doublex/2012/02/rick_santorum_and_prenatal_testing_i_would_have_saved_my_son_from_his_suffering_.html

In re-reading the Rutabaga entry, I'm concerned that I may have come across as not only callous myself (to anyone who has faced this decision), but that I also portrayed the decision to terminate a pregnancy after a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome, as one that is made callously and easily by parents who are really shallow and flippantly decide they can't handle a child with special health & developmental needs. I hope I made it clear in my two disclaimers that's not the way I feel, but ...


I'm dismayed that the conversation about abortion has become so polarizing that folks on both sides feel they have to present it as an all-or-nothing issue at every moment. There are so few opportunities for civilized debate because each side is worried that if they make one concession, the whole “battle” will be lost. So those identifying as "pro-choice" can't concede that sometimes abortion is not the best solution and maybe Lady X should place her baby for adoption. And "pro-life" folks can't admit that sometimes, in cases less extreme/clear-cut than Tay-Sachs, maybe it is the best solution from among several not-so-great choices and in any case, this is Lady X's body and perhaps she should not be shamed into being somebody else's incubator.

Agh. I really didn't set out to write this much/often about this ...

This does fit with the Down syndrome discussion, because while there's no question there are major quality-of-life issues with a disorder like Tay-Sachs, the concern of the Down syndrome community is that pregnant women are given inaccurate (negative) information about what life would be like for a child with Down syndrome, today. Yes, 50 years ago not much was expected of people with Down syndrome, and therefore not much was achieved. A disability of any kind was more shameful and kept secret, and folks were routinely institutionalized for life. Although none of that is the case now, I think a lot of people still believe it is. I think that was kind of one of my last points – hey, Down syndrome is not the end of the world. Again, it’s complicated.

Joanna Hudson, master of understatement. I think I'm giving up on this topic, for today.

And, Obama 2012.