Is Down Syndrome on the Decline Due to Prenatal Testing?

A new prenatal blood test can tell pregnant women as early as ten weeks into pregnancy if their fetus may have Down Syndrome. 

The number of Down Syndrome babies has been shrinking over the past two decades, for various reasons.  At the same time, more services exist for children with Down Syndrome to grow up and lead relatively independent lives. 

What percentage of parents decide to abort their fetus if they learn that it has certain disorders through prenatal testing?  If abortion is not the reason for the decline in Down Syndrome babies, is it possible that those who have someone with Down Syndrome in their family decide not to have children?  The odds of having a baby with Down Syndrome increases as a woman gets older.  Pregnant women 35 years old and up are given prenatal exams not only to determine whether or not the fetus has Down Syndrome, but also to see whether or not the fetus is alive, as older women are more likely to have miscarriages. 

In some countries, pregnant women who go for prenatal exams are not told the sex of the fetus, for fear that they will abort one that is female.  It would be irresponsible for doctors not to tell potential mothers that their baby-to-be has a disorder that will require special care, as arrangements for services take time.  If a pregnant woman has no support network to help look after an infant with special needs, will she be more likely to abort the fetus?  As the number of single mothers increases, this may be something to investigate.

Making Abortion Illegal Does Not Make It Disappear

According to a recent study by the Guttmacher Institute and the World Health Organization, abortion rates are higher in parts of the world where it is illegal.  It is more likely for an abortion to take place in the developing world, and fifty percent of those abortions are performed in an unsafe manner. 

Abortion in the United States is legal, but only if the embryo is less than twenty four weeks old, when it would not be considered viable to live outside of the womb.  In every state of the Union, abortion rates vary due to social stigma, whether or not health insurance plans cover abortions, and how far one must travel in order to have an abortion.  African American women are most likely to have an abortion, while white women are the least likely.  Ironically, women in the United States are more likely than men to disapprove of abortion.  You can read more about it here.

It is also possible that more legal abortions are performed in states where there are higher numbers of abortion clinics.  No one knows how many illegal abortions are performed in the United States, but one would imagine that, if North Dakota only had one abortion clinic, and someone lived on the opposite end of the state who wanted an abortion and could not get there, unpretty things would happen. 

National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA) 2012

The National Defense Authorization Act of Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA 2012) was passed by the House and Senate this month.  Most of what the Act proposes will help our veterans and do positive things for the military, veterans, and United States defense and peacekeeping operations.  Certain parts of NDAA 2012 has caused an uproar across a wide swath of Americans, from the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) to Ron Paul.  It is possible, however, that certain parties want to see this bill fail for reasons other than what they say.

The majority of people enraged about NDAA 2012 have focused on "Sections 1031: Indefinite Detention" and "1032: Requirement for Military Custody". 

According to the NDAA text of Section 1031, the President will have the authority to allow the military to detain any person "who was part of or substantially supported al-Qaeda, the Taliban, or associated forces," under the law of war, "without trial, until the end of hostilities." The text also authorizes trial by military tribunal, or "transfer to the custody or control of the person's country of origin," or transfer to "any other foreign country, or any other foreign entity."  This would apply to US citizens and other legal residents of the United States as well as any other human being. 

According to the NDAA text of Section 1032, all persons arrested and detained according to the provisions of section 1031, including those detained on U.S. soil, whether detained indefinitely or not, are required to serve their time in military prisons run by the US Armed Forces.  Lawful resident aliens may or may not be required to be detained by the Armed Forces, "on the basis of conduct taking place within the United States."

Sections 1031 and 1032 could potentially put many innocent people at risk for persecution, incarceration, and deportation.

NDAA 2012 has redefined sexual assault and rape, and sets out to make punishments for the perpetrators more strict.  Marriage will no longer be a shield that perpetrators can use for abusing their spouses.  While this is a positive aspect to NDAA 2012 that should not go overlooked, NDAA 2012 provides no abortion services for women who were sexually assaulted or raped.  Military women have less access than civilian women in the United States to abortion services, but are the most at risk for rape.

What no one has mentioned about NDAA 2012, which is buried in the myriad of sections, definitions, and amendments, is that NDAA 2012 sets out to repeal the Sodomy Article--article 125 of the Uniform Code of Military Justice.  Repeal of the Sodomy Article will allow gay and lesbian soldiers to have consensual sexual intimacy in the same way that heterosexual soldiers do.  Repeal of the Sodomy Article also will help people in the Armed Forces report sexual assault or rape in a more accurate way that will not discriminate against gay or lesbian soldiers.  As the repeal of "Don't Ask Don't Tell" has already taken place, repeal of the Sodomy Article would drive the final nail in the coffin where discrimination against gay and lesbian servicepeople would be put to rest.

Government documents are long, laborious things to read.  They are written that way on purpose, to hide details that might get approved along with major points.  For this reason, it is worth the time to locate the original government documents and read them for yourself before reading what others have to say about them.  Saint Cloud State University has a great list of resources to help you find any state or federal government document; do not hesitate to contact a helpful librarian to learn how to use them.