{"id":1264,"date":"2012-08-02T09:24:35","date_gmt":"2012-08-02T14:24:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bristolpalin\/?p=1264"},"modified":"2012-08-02T09:24:35","modified_gmt":"2012-08-02T14:24:35","slug":"supreme-court-unexpectedly-upheld-regulatory-elimination-of-down-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/bristolpalin\/2012\/08\/supreme-court-unexpectedly-upheld-regulatory-elimination-of-down-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Supreme Court Unexpectedly Upheld Regulatory Elimination of Down Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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I meant to post this earlier, but so much has been going on!\u00a0 But I wanted to tell you about this, which made me so mad!\u00a0 Mark Leach, a Kentucky lawyer whose daughter has Down syndrome, recently wrote a must-read article on Thin Places<\/a>.\u00a0 It\u2019s about how the Supreme Court\u2019s recent ruling regarding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act would impact the lives of people:<\/p>\n

A common reaction to the recent Supreme Court decision upholding the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (PPACA) was that it was \u201cunexpected.\u201d The Chief Justice reportedly sided with the dissenters to overturn the entire law, only to then switch and author the majority opinion. But buried within the PPACA regulations is something that for many also should be unexpected. If it\u2019s not addressed, it does not matter what else PPACA does for individuals with Down syndrome and their families.<\/p>\n

Pursuant to PPACA\u2019s provision for no-cost preventive care services for women, insurance policies will be required to provide no-cost prenatal genetic testing starting August 1, 2012. A preventive treatment exists in response to many non-genetic prenatal tests. For instance, when my wife was expecting our daughter, she was prenatally tested for gestational diabetes and was able to monitor her condition so that it did not negatively impact the pregnancy. This is not the case, however, for prenatal testing for Down syndrome, the condition our daughter has had since at or near her conception.<\/p>\n

There is no treatment pre- or post-natally for the extra 21st-chromosomal material that causes Down syndrome. Currently, an estimated 400,000 Americans have Down syndrome. Characterizing prenatal testing for Down syndrome as \u201cpreventive care\u201d expresses a policy that fetuses diagnosed with Down syndrome should be prevented from being born. Indeed, a member of the Court\u2019s majority, Justice Ginsberg, previously stated in an interview that one purpose of abortion is to reduce \u201cpopulations that we don\u2019t want to have too many of.\u201d Population reduction is exactly what happens where there is a public policy for prenatal genetic testing\u2026<\/p>\n

To say that a genetic condition should be prevented, with the only means of that prevention being abortion, is morally objectionable.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Remember when my mom warned about \u201cDeath Panels?\u201d\u00a0 Well, here we are.<\/p>\n

When I think about people aborting their babies just because they might be like my brother, it makes me so angry and sad at once.\u00a0 Please read Mark Leach\u2019s article<\/a> and pray that the PPACA regulation\u2019s requirement for no-cost prenatal genetic testing for conditions that cannot be treated be rescinded.<\/p>\n

P.S. This was my 100th post!!!\u00a0 Who\u2019s read all of them?<\/em><\/p>\n

You might also enjoy these articles on the Faith and Family Channel:<\/a>
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