Down's Syndrome births drop despite ADA passage

This article on the Huffington Post website outlined some troubling information regarding the birth rate of children with Down's Syndrome and also presents an interesting perspective on the cultural dynamics that might be affecting it. The article notes that--though it seems counter-intuitive--the rate of children born with Down's Syndrome has dropped by 25% since the passage of the ADA by President Bush. One might assume that the protections afforded by the ADA would influence parents to bring babies with disabilities to term more often, but the data suggests this is not so. The authors then cite several news reports and media depictions, the likes of which probably create a cultural bias that continues to skew parents against carrying a fetus with Down's Syndrome to term.

As a new parent, I am particularly sensitive to this issue. It disappoints me to read that people are presumably understanding the "responsible" choice to be termination of pregnancy rather than bringing a child with a disability into the world. I can understand why they might choose this if they learned their unborn child had Down's; as soon as the public movement against using the word "retard" found success, the word "Down's" became the new substitute. I've heard it used by kids on the internet and kids in public to describe their friends and enemies. I fear we have a long way to go before our society is so enlightened that we stop taking advantage of the disadvantaged.