UPDATE: The PA House passed the “Down Syndrome Prenatal Education Act” (HB 2111), and now moves to the PA Senate for consideration. Contact your Senator and ask for their support: www.tinyurl.com/HelpChloe
After a routine prenatal check-up Rachel Collins, a first-time mom from Great Britain, was advised to terminate her pregnancy. Doctors told her that a condition known as oligohydraminios had caused her to have a smaller amount of amniotic fluid. Her baby was given a 10% chance to survive. “The doctor didn’t mince his words, he said, ‘This baby will die, the best thing you can do is terminate it,’” Collins said.
Collins couldn’t imagine getting rid of her baby when she could still feel it alive inside of her. Although the doctors weren’t optimistic, thankfully, Collins chose life. She gave birth to a baby boy a few months later with no complications.
The conditions may be vastly different but the premise is the same for many mothers across the globe. Prenatal testing has been a positive advancement in health care in many instances but can be damaging when not enough information is given to the expectant parents. Currently, prenatal testing allows for the diagnosis of a child with Down Syndrome. For this reason, 90% of diagnosed babies are aborted.
Kurt Kondrich, a Pittsburgh area native and father of Chloe, a vibrant girl with Down Syndrome, has a solution for this problem. He, along with many legislators, has proposed a bill dubbed “Chloe’s Law” that would simply require certain information to be given to parents and families upon the diagnosis of Down Syndrome.
Kondrich is motivated by the negativity in hospitals surrounding the birth of a child that may not ever develop the way other children would. Abortion was generally assumed as soon as a prenatal diagnosis was given. Kondrich rightly calls this practice “silent eugenics.” Innocent lives are being taken for no other reason than the idea that they will never be “normal.”
The bill is not partisan and has vast support on both sides of the aisle. “Chloe’s Law” would aid parents in their decision making process. So often parents and families are told with the diagnosis of Down Syndrome that an abortion is the only right response. If they knew there were resources available to help their unborn child succeed in life, they may make a different decision. The purpose of this bill is to let future parents and families know of these resources.
Contact your State Representative and State Senator – ask them to co-sponsor Chloe’s Law (by Sen. Vulakovich and Rep. Marshall) and to pass the bill when it’s up for a vote. Click here to send them an email.
Thanks for your help in supporting babies with Down Syndrome – your actions to help “Chloe’s Law” will help save lives.
