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Preborn children are the most vulnerable population on the planet.

They are subject to deadly discrimination to the point that in the eyes of the United States Supreme Court, a preborn child is not even considered a person. Under the law, preborn children can be killed in abortion clinics legally for just about any reason. And if the abortion industry has it their way, the procedure will be legal even up to the very moment of birth.

At the roots of the abortion industry is Planned Parenthood’s founder, Margaret Sanger. Throughout her life, Sanger was open about her beliefs in eugenics, population control, and racism. In fact, she once sent a letter that said, “We do not want the word to go out that we want to exterminate the Negro population…” We discussed the issues surrounding Sanger in one of our recent blogs, which you can read by clicking here.

The entire foundation of the abortion industry rests on the idea of deliberate and systematic extermination of unwanted preborn children.

And ever since the ruling of Roe v. Wade in 1973, this mission has become a reality. As a result, over 60 million preborn children in America have been killed by abortion.

It’s nothing short of genocide.

However, within the larger scope of discrimination and genocide of preborn children, one group is targeted even further: preborn children with Down syndrome.

Down syndrome is a condition where a person has an extra copy of chromosome 21. This extra chromosome impacts the physical and mental development of the child and causes varying degrees of challenges throughout their lives. Every year, about 6,000 children are born with Down syndrome in the United States.

While Down syndrome is a lifelong condition, the life expectancy for this population has dramatically increased – and is now 60 years old, according to the National Down Syndrome Society. Not only is the life expectancy increasing, but with the right educational programs, home environment, health care, and positive support, there is no reason that people with Down syndrome can’t live fulfilling lives. 

Despite this fact, preborn children with Down syndrome are among the most discriminated-against populations in the world. And this discrimination has created a genocide within a genocide in the abortion industry.

The Diagnosis Becomes a Death Sentence

As prenatal testing has become more and more common around the world, parents have been able to find out early on in a pregnancy if their child will be born with Down syndrome.

On the surface, that sounds like a positive innovation, right? Prenatal testing should give parents plenty of time to get educated on how to support their child so he or she can live a fulfilling life. It should equip medical providers with the necessary information to ensure the mom and child receive appropriate care from the very beginning.

Unfortunately, that has not been the result in most cases. Instead of using the information to prepare for the child, it is commonly used as a reason to abort the child.

While there are few reliable sources, the most recently available data shows that roughly 67% of pregnancies in America where the preborn child is diagnosed with Down syndrome ends in abortion.

Outside of the United States, the data is even more disturbing.

In France, 77% of preborn children with Down syndrome are aborted. In Denmark, it’s up to 98%. And most disturbing of all, Iceland has a nearly 100% abortion rate when the preborn child is diagnosed with Down syndrome.

A diagnosis of Down syndrome has quickly become a death sentence for most preborn children around the world.

In one story for CBS News, correspondent Elaine Quijano went to Iceland to investigate these alarmingly high abortion rates. As part of the story, she interviewed Helga Sol Olafsdottir, who counsels pregnant moms dealing with this diagnosis for their child.

Olafsdottir told CBS News, “We don’t look at abortion as a murder. We look at it as a thing that we ended. We ended a possible life that may have had a huge complication… preventing suffering for the child and for the family. And I think that is more right than seeing it as a murder – that’s so black and white. Life isn’t black and white. Life is gray.”

Is Abortion a Gray Area?

Is Olafsdottir right? Is there a moral gray area with abortion – and even life itself?

To answer this question, we must first and foremost turn to God’s Word.

The Bible talks repeatedly about the value of all human life – making no exceptions for medical conditions.

Jeremiah 1:5: “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, before you were born I set you apart.”

Psalm 139:13: “For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb.”

There is no gray area with God. From the very moment of conception, life begins. And every human being is made in the image of God with extraordinary intrinsic dignity and value.

There is also no gray area with life – and more specifically, with the right to life. The right to life is the most important and basic human right that exists, because without first the right to life, no other right matters.

In one survey, nearly 99% of people with Down syndrome said they were happy with their lives. Moreover, 97% said they liked who they are, nearly 99% expressed love for their families, and 86% said they felt they could make friends easily.

The study concludes, “Overall, the overwhelming majority of people with Down syndrome surveyed indicate they live happy and fulfilling lives.”

This is the message that people like Olafsdottir should be telling moms. Abortion and life are not moral gray areas that are negotiable. A life is a life – regardless of diagnosis, age, stage of development, potential challenges, or any other circumstances. And abortion takes that life.

Fight the Culture of Death

Olafsdottir’s comments show how far the culture of death goes when left unchecked. She can’t even bring herself to call the aborted child a child. To her, it’s just “a thing that we ended.”

It’s a troubling premise, but one that we aren’t too far from here in America.

Again, according to the best data available, 67% of preborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted in the United States. And based on recent legal battles, Planned Parenthood and the abortion industry are ready and willing to fight against any restrictions on abortion whatsoever – even if the only reason for an abortion is because of the child’s diagnosis.

For example, in Missouri, a law was passed in 2019 that would, in part, specifically ban abortions sought solely because of Down syndrome. Of course, it didn’t take long for Planned Parenthood of Missouri to file a lawsuit, and the law has since been blocked as the Eighth Circuit Court of Appeals continues its consideration. Similar measures have also been struck down in Arkansas and Ohio.

What does this all mean for Christians?

Simply put, we must speak out and stand up against the discrimination happening toward preborn children. We must fight back against the culture of death in our nation and defend ALL human life.

Because different challenges do not equal different value. A medical diagnosis does not excuse the killing of a human life.

Will you help stop the genocide? Learn how you can get involved: https://www.humancoalition.org/get-involved/.

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