Wednesday, August 23, 2017

CBS Celebrates Elimination Of Down Syndrome Births In Iceland

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A recent CBS story reported that the number of babies born in Iceland with Down Syndrome is dramatically decreasing.

The network declared that few countries "have come as close to eradicating Down Syndrome births as Iceland."

Have they discovered a cure for Downs?

The Icelandic government and CBS seem to think so.

But this is one more way in which the news media manipulates a busy distracted public.


CBS touted the fact that few countries "have come as close to eradicating Downs births as Iceland."

On the surface, the person in a hurry sees or hears CBS's headline and is grateful for medical progress.

Anything to help the kids. Right?

While CBS reports the rest of this story, the complete story, in my opinion, is wrapped in the cloak of goodness and compassion, rather than the evil it is.

Since Iceland began prenatal testing in 2000, the government has mandated that all pregnant women be informed about screening for abnormalities.

While it does not require that women receive the screening, most do because of peer pressure---and it seems the compassionate thing to do.

The doctors administer a blood test and ultrasound in a Combination Test to determine the likelihood that a fetus will have a genetic disorder.

Hulda Hjartardottir, the head of the Prenatal Diagnosis Unit at the University Hospital, told CBS, "Babies with Down syndrome are still being born in Iceland. We try to do as neutral counseling as possible, but some people would say that just offering the test is pointing you towards a certain direction."

The message CBS is trying to advance is presented as a medical success---a cure for Downs.

I suspect if you ignore the sanctity of life, in a perverted sense, it is a "cure."

The Down Pride advocacy group says only one or two children are born with Down syndrome each year in the country, however, that is usually due to inaccurate test results.

They report that since 2008, every unborn Icelandic baby diagnosed with Down syndrome has been aborted.

Sigga Ella, a photographer, has created a photo series called, "First and Foremost I Am" of 21 Down syndrome children and adults in an attempt to normalize and show they should not be killed simply for their extra chromosome.

While some geneticists are questioning how far the government should go in ensuring "healthy" children, the press is predictably beginning to promote the "cure."

A Dutch newspaper reported that "a child with Down syndrome costs 1 to 2 million Euros"---quoting Belgian experts who say that "preventing the birth of 50 babies with Down syndrome will offset the costs of fully implementing the NIPT [noninvasive prenatal testing] into Dutch public healthcare."

And more countries are adopting the "cure" with their "health care treatment."

As of 2015, France had a 77% and Denmark a 98% termination rate for Down syndrome babies.

BBC reports that Britain has a 90% termination rate abortion rate for Down syndrome babies.

Some mothers are asking if this is appropriate---is it right or moral?

Helga Sol Olafsdottir---a counselor at Landspitali University Hospital in Iceland puts nervous mothers at ease.

She tells them, "This is your life---you have the right to choose what your life will look like."

This, of course, is a threshold Planned Parenthood has already led American women to cross.

"We don't look at abortion as a murder---seeing aborting babies with defects as murder is so 'black and white'," she says.

Then she tells the hesitant mother, "Life isn't black and white. Life is gray."

The celebratory thread in this CBS story is that soon Americans will become as enlightened as the Europeans.

And then Planned Parenthood can tell American mothers, "We don't look at abortion as murder..." and Hillary can take satisfaction that some of those religious codes and beliefs are being removed---we're making progress.

God forgive us.

Be Informed. Be Discerning. Be Pro-Life.