Posted on 09/10/2008 5:52:55 AM PDT by Kaslin
WASHINGTON -- In addition to Barack Obama making history as the first African-American to be nominated for president and Sarah Palin taking her shotgun to the glass ceiling, there was a third civil rights barrier broken at the political conventions this year.
Trig Paxson Van Palin -- pronounced by his mother "beautiful" and "perfect" and applauded at center stage of the Republican convention -- smashed the chromosomal barrier. And it was all the more moving for the innocence and indifference of this 4-month-old civil rights leader.
It was not always this way. When John F. Kennedy's younger sister Rosemary was born mentally disabled in 1918, it was treated as a family secret. For decades Rosemary was hidden as a "childhood victim of spinal meningitis." Joseph Kennedy subjected his daughter to a destructive lobotomy at age 23. It was the remarkable Eunice Kennedy Shriver who talked openly of her sister's condition in 1962 and went on to found the Special Olympics as a summer camp in her backyard -- part of a great social movement of compassion and inclusion.
Trig's moment in the spotlight is a milestone of that movement. But it comes at a paradoxical time. Unlike African-Americans and women, civil rights protections for people with Down syndrome have rapidly eroded over the last few decades. Of the cases of Down syndrome diagnosed by pre-natal testing each year, about 90 percent are eliminated by abortion. Last year the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists recommended universal, early testing for Down syndrome -- not just for older pregnant women. Some expect this increased screening to reduce the number of Down syndrome births far lower than the 5,500 we see today, perhaps to less than 1,000.
The wrenching diagnosis of 47 chromosomes must seem to parents like the end of a dream instead of the beginning of a life. But children born with Down syndrome -- who learn slowly but love deeply -- are generally not experienced by their parents as a curse but as a complex blessing. And when allowed to survive, men and women with an extra chromosome experience themselves as people with abilities, limits and rights. Yet when Down syndrome is detected through testing, many parents report that genetic counselors and physicians emphasize the difficulties of raising a disabled child and urge abortion.
This is properly called eugenic abortion -- the ending of "imperfect"
lives to remove the social, economic and emotional costs of their existence. And this practice cannot be separated from the broader social treatment of the disabled. By eliminating less perfect humans, deformity and disability become more pronounced and less acceptable. Those who escape the net of screening are often viewed as mistakes or burdens. A tragic choice becomes a presumption -- "Didn't you get an amnio?" -- and then a prejudice. And this feeds a social Darwinism in which the stronger are regarded as better, the dependant are viewed as less valuable, and the weak must occasionally be culled.
The protest against these trends has come in interesting forms. Last year pro-choice Sen. Edward Kennedy joined with pro-life Sen. Sam Brownback to propose a bill that would have required medical professionals to tell expectant parents that genetic tests are sometimes inaccurate and to give them up-to-date information on the quality of life that people with Down syndrome can enjoy. The bill did not pass, but it was a principled gesture from Rosemary's brother.
Yet the pro-choice radicalism held by Kennedy and many others -- the absolute elevation of individual autonomy over the rights of the weak -- has enabled the new eugenics. It has also created a moral conflict at the heart of the Democratic Party. If traditional Democratic ideology means anything, it is the assertion that America is a single moral community that includes everyone. How can this vision possibly be reconciled with the elimination of Down syndrome children from American society? Are pro-choice Democrats really comfortable with this choice?
The family struggles of political leaders can be morally instructive.
Contrast the attitude of Joseph Kennedy with that of Charles de Gaulle, who treated his daughter Anne, born with Down syndrome in 1928, with great affection. The image of this arrogant officer rocking Anne in his arms at night speaks across the years. After her death and burial at the age of 20, de Gaulle turned to his wife and said, "Come. Now she is like the others."
And now we have met Trig, who is just like the others, in every way that matters.
For once, I think highly of de Gaulle.
Thanks for posting this.
The thing is that the Dems have not changed. They put up vile websites about Trig and expose their own “middle schooler” mentality.
“And now we have met Trig, who is just like the others, in every way that matters.”
No, he’s more because he will teach his family and his secular and faith communities, the kids he will go to school with, the people he will interact with as an adult that not everyone is smart, not everyone is capable and accomplished, not everyone is “beautiful”, not everyone can take care of him or herself and that’s all fine because the glory of God is made manifest in him and how we respond to him and the others around us like him. The Palins likely don’t know it yet, at least not fully appreciate it yet, but this little fellow is the greatest blessing God could give them.
As the father of a 25 year old son with Down Syndrome, I know.
Excellent piece!
Some evil lunatics in DU even put him up for sale on Ebay
That story really made me smile. He couldn’t have been as full of himself as he seemed, if he had room in his heart for a child with Down’s Syndrome. It’s a reminder that people are often better than we give them credit for.
So many of Palin’s attributes and life’s experiences expose the insensitivities of the Democrats.
For the party who claims to be for the little guy, Palin is showing through her actions that the Democrats are not for the little guy.
Wow -- what a powerful article! None of this would be discussed so openly without the life of Trig Palin and the unconditional love of his parents.
Well said. What people see in Sarah Palin is far more powerful than what anyone could say. PCA greetings, friend...
Wow! Next trip to the library, I’ll be looking for a good biography of DeGaulle.
Yes, I saw that. And there was a web page yesterday called Retarded Baby that was vile. It’s been removed. The left’s attitude shows a horrible lack of maturity.
I always admired DeGaulle’s courage, but was put-off by what I saw a arrogance. This makes the arrogance insignificant.
The problem with those who abort these babies is that, much like Hitler's philosophy, they feel they must eliminate those which are not, in their manner of thinking, perfect.
Their judgment and acceptance of what constitutes a perfect person doesn't stop with the act of destroying their unborn children who are not up to their standards...it continues to cover anyone who does not meet their standards for perfection. Ala all the ways they are trying to paint Palin less than intelligent because she did not get what they consider a quality education, worked in journalism as a sports writer (compaired to Obama who was editor for the Harvard law review and did not even write one article for that?? Crazy!), was only a mayor of a small town and governor of the largest state, and is an admitted hockey mom who they feel should stay home with the kids, etc. They just can't stand that our gal does not have a degree from a snooty, upper-eschelon college where she would have rubbed elbows with those they consider worthy. Funny thing is, what if she did...what would they say against her then? And, funny thing is, she has achieved so much more than all her detractors (and many who went to Harvard or one of the big 10) who are still in their careers of journalism and never moved beyond to a position of administrative authority. Most of whom only have a B.A. anyway!
It is pathetic how the left negatively judges those who achieve if they don't hold the same values the left wants them to have.
Then, the rationale behind free and easy abortion unravels. The pro-abortion forces fear that happening more than anything else about the coming McCain-Palin administration.
Thank you.
It helps explain his resolve to fight the Nazis (and Vichy) with all the odds against him.
Thought you might like this.
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