| International News

They are troubled that the example she and her husband have set in embracing their Down's syndrome child may cause others to do the same!

TORONTO (LifeSiteNews) - U.S. vice-presidential candidate Sarah Palin's loving and highly-publicized acceptance of her Down's syndrome child Trig has some Canadian doctors worried that her example may lead to mothers shunning abortion after diagnosis of Down's syndrome.

Dr. Andre Lalonde, executive vice-president of the Society of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists of Canada (SOGC), told the Globe and Mail yesterday, "Palin's decision to keep her baby, knowing he would be born with the condition, may inadvertently influence other women who may lack the necessary emotional and financial support to do the same."

"The worry is that this will have an implication for abortion issues in Canada," he said.

Under the facade of "freedom to choose", Lalonde said that "popular messages" about women like Palin, who choose not to kill their unborn children, "could have detrimental effects on women and their families."

"We offer the woman the choice. We try to be as unbiased as possible," Lalonde said. "We're coming down to a moral decision and we all know moral decisions are personal decisions."

Though Lalonde said that "the country's medical professionals don't emphasize the burden of Down syndrome to pregnant women," and that "giving women balanced information about the potential consequences of either decision does not mean they are being encouraged to abort their pregnancies", statistics reveal that 80-90% of Canadian children with Down syndrome are aborted.

Krista Flint, executive director of the Canadian Down Syndrome Society, said, "Many of the country's medical professionals only give messages of fear to parents who learn their baby will be born with the genetic condition."

"It's very dark," she said in the Globe and Mail report. "They hear a lot about the medical conditions that are sometimes associated with Down syndrome. They hear about the burden . . . it places on children and a marriage."

"They hear about things like shortened life expectancy. They hear a lot about the challenges of a life with Down syndrome. That's why Mrs. Palin has become an example that could possibly stem the tide of families who abort fetuses after a positive determination for Down syndrome," Ms. Flint said.

"We know overwhelmingly the message families get is 'Don't have this baby, it will ruin your life,' and I don't think people would look at Sarah Palin and see a ruined life," Ms. Flint said. "Regardless of politics, I think it's a good example."

According to Physicians for Life between 84 percent and 91 percent of babies with Down syndrome are aborted in the U.S. While this figure is similar in Canada, it is even higher in England and Spain where 94 percent and 95 percent of unborn babies with Down syndrome are aborted.