The Official HSB Community Blog - Special Words for Special Needs ~ Joining Will on a ACOG rant

~ Home ~ View my profile ~ Archives ~ Email Me ~ My Blog's RSS

Click here to check out the latest contests on the HSB Company Porch!!

Special Words for Special Needs ~ Joining Will on a ACOG rant

2:09 AM, Jan. 29, 2007

I realize that the 22nd of January was the March for Life, but I wrote my last article early. This isn't exactly about homeschooling Special Needs, but it is close to my heart. By now this article might be old news to you, but I am a bit slow on the uptake sometimes. Golly, What Did Jon Do? is an article written by George Will about the ACOG. Here is just a bit:

"As women age, their risk of having a Down syndrome baby increases. It has become standard practice for women older than 35 years old to be offered genetic counseling and diagnostic testing. But because of the higher fertility rates of women under 35, such women have 80 percent of Down syndrome babies. So new ACOG guidelines recommend that all pregnant women, regardless of age, be offered such counseling and testing.

The ACOG guidelines are formally neutral concerning what decisions parents should make on the basis of the information offered. But what is antiseptically called "screening" for Down syndrome is, much more often than not, a search-and-destroy mission: At least 85 percent of pregnancies in which Down syndrome is diagnosed are ended by abortions."

Many other blogs have written about this subject and the arguments can go back and forth. This tires me. Folks much smarter than I start the argument going and I just get lost in their dust. But there are a few things I know.

-A 'fetus' is a baby...a human person
-whether 'disabled' or not a person is a person. ( I agree with Horton...)
-All life is sacred and valuable-a Gift from God

There, that is my argument. Here is our story.

When I was pregnant with my daughter almost 17 years ago. We had no health insurance. So we paid as we went along and had no extra testing. Everything went fine until the day before our daughter was delivered by emergency C Section. They couldn't find a heart beat...when they finally did it was very slow....so off to the hospital! Our daughter was born the next day. She was perfectly healthy! No heart problems. No digestive tract problems, all fingers and all toes present.

Oh, and she had Down syndrome-Translocation 14/21.

Sure it was a big deal for a while. Hubby went to the local library and got our every book on DS that he could find. We read and read. Sure, we talked to a few folks that the hospital social services threw our way, but we just read. We took our baby home and raised her.

(As an aside, I was pregnant again 8 weeks after the C Section...don't ask! We were told to go for genetic counseling because our daughter's form of DS was hereditary. We did-no big deal. We just wanted to know, not to terminate the pregnancy! I had an amnio and we had blood tests...of course everything was fine-and even if it wasn't, that would have been fine, too. BTW, insurance kicked in the day after our daughter was born!)

Let's leap ahead 16 years. Two kids. They both drive me nuts with their teenager attitudes! Both take Hapkido and are very good! Both can read, both hate Math, both can cook but can't clean up the kitchen after themselves. Both won first place at the Farm Show this past fall.

I didn't raise our daughter any different. To be honest, it took her a bit longer to learn to read; money recognition is a bit of a challenge; her muscle tone is a bit low, so Hapkido can be difficult sometimes; and her diet is a bit different because she has Celiac Disease. Big Whoop!

I am not saying that it has been smooth sailing. There have been a few bumps in the way. BUT she is a person, our daughter and valued soul to God.

It is a shame that all parents who find out that their pre-born child might have Down Syndrome don't know that.

Remember to laugh-and pray for others

Janice

Janice is the mother of two wonderful (if not a bit testy teenagers). Special needs-smecial needs! They both can get on her nerves, but she wouldn't change them for the world!

Posted in specialneeds, 4 comments, Link
Leave a Comment

Comments
I loved it!

10:57 AM, Jan. 29, 2007, posted by onfire

You wrote so well ... what can I say but, thank you.
that was fantastic to read!
Kristina

Untitled Comment

2:46 PM, Jan. 29, 2007, posted by livin4Him6

Great post!! :0) I do not have a ds child, but I have a friend who does. She is THE sweetest 10 year old under the sun and she isn't even mine. LOL They did not know before she was born that she had ds and they, like you, read up and got as much info. as possilbe. They raise her like any other kid and believe me she is just like any other kid. LOL I could not imagine not knowing her and I KNOW her parents feel the same way. :0)

Great post!

9:14 AM, Jan. 30, 2007, posted by Anonymous

I loved what you wrote. I did a post about a group that does wonders for families with Down Syndrome. I hope you like it.

http://ktcatspost.blogspot.com/2007/01/world-of-good-gigis-playhouse-style.html

Thanks!

11:09 PM, Feb. 2, 2007, posted by BarbaraFrank

Thanks for sharing your take on what is very accurately described as a search-and-destroy mission. As painful as it is for mere humans like us (we who have been blessed with a child with Ds), imagine how painful it is for God to see people doing this. And it's not just for Ds.....there's an abortionist in WA state who will do abortions for sex selection....just like the govt. policy in China! Come, Lord Jesus.....soon!

PS Do you have a personal blog or Web site, Janice? I'd love to check it out :)

Barb

Curious about The Old Schoolhouse

Magazine but not quite ready to commit to a subscription without seeing it first? Check it out for FREE! We're so certain you'll love our publication that we'll gladly send a FREE sample to anyone new to The Old Schoolhouse Magazine - we even cover the shipping!

... Click here for more information ...

{ Last Page } { Page 1870 of 3253 } { Next Page }

About This Blog

Welcome to the HSB announcement blogboard from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, LLC. We hope you will enjoy the articles posted here by the Porch Team. Please feel free to leave comments!
~ Tia Linschied,
Senior Editor of HSB

The Fall 2009 issue will be
available soon!
Click here to Subscribe!

To see the current cover up close, click here

TOS Homeschool Crew

Promote Your Page Too

Products of the Month

- Get this E-Book FREE!

- Schoolhouse Planner Module ($7.95)
Summer Fun!

- Nov. Molly Digest ($4.95)
Family Photography

Living Heritage UK

Homeschool Resources

Cosidering Homeschooling

FREE E-News!

Our E-Newsletters give you wonderful, informative information about homeschooling, news bits, contests and PRIZES for homeschoolers, articles to encourage you, calls for writers, free unit studies and lesson plans, and just a lot of FUN. Bring the community to your inbox, and no worries, we never sell, trade or give your email or any other information out to anyone. Come join the homeschool party! The Homeschool Minute is our most popular newsletter, full of encouragement and support just for YOU! Subscribe to *FREE* newsletters offered by The Old Schoolhouse Magazine.

Visit the Porch Team Writers and Features

Tia Linschied, Senior Editor

Monday - Friday! Homeschool Tip of the Day by Christina

Monday

Learning from the Master Teacher

Craft Corner
by Taneil Linschied

Going the Distance
by Amanda Suryan

Homeschool Nations Highlight
by Tia Linschied

Tuesday

Unit Study Adventures
by In The Hands of a Child

Taming the Chaos
by Dell

Kitchen Moments
by Catherine Love

Wednesday

Home Where They Belong
by the HWTB Team

Languishing in Languages?
by Suzanne Gose

Homeschooling Through High School
by Lori Havens

Thursday

Homeschooling is Life
by Nancy Baetz

Communication Corner
by JoJo Tabares

The Littlest Learners
by Karin Katherine

Homeschool Hilarity!
by Tia Linschied

Friday

Homeschooling Only One
by Donna Conner

Special Words for
Special Needs
by Heather

Notebooking on the Porch
by Lisa Golda

Blogger of the Week
by Tia Linschied

News Alerts

HSB Tech Help

What's Bloggin'

HSB News

TOS News

Contests

General Interest

Updates from Germany

Archived Features

Adoption Options

The Busy Woman

Classical Education

Education Through Imagination

The Experimental Zone

Geography Activities

Jamin's Internet Academy

Knitting

Our New E-book ~
On Sale NOW!

Quick Links

The Old Schoolhouse Magazine

HSB Military Blog

Growth of Blogs

Sifry's Alerts - the blog of the owner of Technorati

Homeschooling in the news
provided by HomeSchoolBuzz.com

Do you have the whole set of back issues from The Old Schoolhouse Magazine?

Click here to view all back issues and read the themes - you will want to collect the ones you've missed!!