Dear freedom

Dear people of Ireland,

For a baby born with Down syndrome today, the outlook has never been better. Medical and social advances have radically changed what it means to live with a disability such as Down syndrome. They live healthier, longer and increasingly independent lives. They are university students, councilors, actors, models and restaurant-owners. It is ironic that children with Down syndrome are used as a battering ram to get the door open to legalizing abortion in Ireland.

The legalization of abortion is slickly marketed with positive terms like 'reproductive freedom' and 'women's choice' that seem hard to oppose. But these euphemistic terms barely hide the real and cruel consequences for those who go through it. History teaches us that ‘legal’ doesn't always equal ‘ethical’. The media remains quiet about what really propels the abortion movement nowadays: not women rights, but eugenics and economics.

Selective abortion for disability increases

In Germany, despite a long-lasting decline in the total number of abortions, the number of selective abortions for disability or genetic condition has been steadily increasing. This trend of increasing abortions after a disability is diagnosed, is noticeable throughout Europe and the world. In Denmark and China, where prenatal screening and selective abortion is standard 'care', the end of Down syndrome is predicted. Belgium has joined their ranks by investing millions in a 'free' NIPT for all women. Belgian philosopher Vermeersch said in a tv-interview that “he hoped ‘they’ would die out”.

NIPT (Non-Invasive Prenatal Test) is mainly targeting Down syndrome. Cost-analysis studies designed by pharmaceutical companies are used to convince States that screening and abortion is more cost-effective than the lifelong care for these children. A Dutch tv-show called ‘The Last Downer’ showed a price-tag per person with Down syndrome, as calculated by the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM) in the Netherlands.

Disability: the price per head

Besides the fact that calculating the ‘worth of a human life’ is utterly unethical, the outcome is also severely skewed considering people with disabilities are still the most marginalized group in society. The UK, France, the Netherlands, etc., have announced or implemented similar expansions of their National screening programs. The 'extinction' of Down syndrome is predicted. But as a natural occurring variation of our human species, it isn’t possible to ‘eradicate’ Down syndrome: women will continue to conceive such babies. Therefore the systematic screening and selection is a moral and emotional black hole that will continually create victims and requires continued funding.

To the limit of what women can bear

Women who have felt their babies kick go through a tremendous emotional roller-coaster when gently pressured or coerced towards abortion. A researcher described that selective abortion brings women 'to the limit of what a person can bear.' Many women continue to suffer depression or substance abuse years after their selective abortion. To 'help' these women come to terms with their feelings of guilt, the effects of a disability are often exaggerated and made into devastating conditions that are severely life-limiting. Abortion, then argued, would be in the best interest of the child and the family.

Happy people with Down syndrome trigger feelings of guilt

Advocates who contradict this picture of severe suffering are often accused of ‘romanticizing disability’. The French High court even went as far to ban a video featuring real life people with Down syndrome. They felt the people’s expression of happiness in the video was “inappropriate” and "likely to disturb the conscience of women who had lawfully made different personal life choices". This seems a cruel and sick joke considering research among a large population with Down syndrome shows they rate life far better than the average population: 99% of people with Down syndrome said to be happy with their lives. Hard to beat that number!

Freedom to choose turned into obligation to abort

As a mother of two children with Down syndrome our lives are scrutinized by society. Parents of children with disabilities get questions like 'did you know it in advance' or 'why did you choose Down syndrome'? But choosing Down syndrome is just as unrealistic as choosing the gender of your child: there is no choice in the matter. Others, more correct, ask bluntly why I didn't choose to abort because, or despite of, the presence of Down syndrome. Some explicitly plead for state coercion by ‘withdrawing all public financial support to those families either opting out of genetic screening or rejecting termination.’

That is the so-called 'freedom' that could await you too dear people of Ireland. Women will be ‘free’ to make reproductive choices as long as they fit into the economic and eugenics agenda designed by your policy-makers, pharmaceutical companies and other stakeholders. If you don't fit the utilitarian model of the ‘new Irishman’, best prepare for a life in the margins.

Dear people of Ireland, Please take two things from my letter:

1. Don't visit France if you have Down syndrome and can't stop smiling.

2. Stay free!

Renate Lindeman is mother of two wonderful children with Down syndrome. She is also spokesperson for Downpride and a Saving Down syndrome team member. Downpride and LeJeune Foundation started a campaign #StopDiscriminating Down aimed at the UN to ban the government initiated prenatal extermination of people with Down syndrome, calling it a violation of human rights.

Please sign the petition to urge the United Nations to remind countries of their obligation to protect the inherent humanity and dignity of all human beings.