More British women are learning that their babies will have Down syndrome, but with 9 in 10 terminating their pregnancies the number of children born with the chromosomal disorder is steady, new research shows.
Down syndrome diagnoses are up by 71 percent since 1989, according to research published Tuesday in the British Medical Journal. The reason: women are waiting to have children. That’s significant because the odds of having a baby with Down syndrome increase from 1 in 940 for a mother who is 30 to 1 in 85 for a mother who is 40.
Meanwhile, prenatal screening for the disorder has become more advanced and more women are opting to do such testing in utero. Of couples who learn prenatally that their child will have Down syndrome, 92 percent decide to terminate the pregnancy.
“What we’re seeing here is a steep rise in pregnancies with Down syndrome but that is being offset by improvements in screening,”said Joan Morris, a professor of medical statistics at Queen Mary, University of London who authored the study. “It was thought that these improvements would lead to a decrease in the number of births with Down syndrome. However due to increases in maternal age this has not occurred.”
Today, about 750 babies are born each year in Britain with Down syndrome.
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This makes me very sad. I am sorry for those parents who are too intimidated, scared, or for whatever reason, do not want their child with DS. They are the ones losing out.
I am thankful that the decision to abort or to not is in the hands of the parents and not the government or the church. Living with DS is not easy. I dearly love my daughter who has DS and she has brought much joy to our family. But she has also brought deep heartbreak. It’s hard to watch your child grow up wanting to be like everyone else, to do all the things that others do, yet it is such a struggle for her.
Yet, this world would be less without people who have DS – they bring their own gifts, their own charm. When my daughter and I are out in public I often see people looking at her, wistfully, smiling and when I asked these people if they were thinking about someone they knew who had DS, I get all sorts of wonderful stories about sisters, brothers, uncles, cousins, childhood playmates — all of whom had Down syndrome. Because humans with this particular chromosomal difference have a kind of charm, a kind of inner sweetness which is hard to quantify.
Having a child with DS will not wreck your life but it will chance it profoundly. All children do that to some degree but with DS it is so much more.
I respect those who decide that they aren’t up for the task. And I’m glad that many still decide that they are.
Something a friend who has a sister with DS told me right after my daughter was born; “The world would be a better place if everyone had a little Down syndrome in them.” And I know that to be true now.
Shocking … but not surprising … the professor’s choice of wording:
“It was thought that these IMPROVEMENTS would lead to a decrease in the number of births with Down syndrome.”
We once had a former Surgeon General who held a similar sentiment here in the U.S.
Unfortunately, these parents’ decisions are probably strongly influenced by their doctors’ direction and the medical community that just doesn’t understand … and refuses to see … the value of what they don’t know!
I have a student with Down Syndrome whom I call my stress-reliever. When things get crazy at work, a hug and a smile from him always works
I sgree, people with DS have a certain charm that lifts people up. I enjoy having students with DS in my class, but I also realize that at the end of the day they go back to their parents who would have to think about their future long term.