It would be laughable, were it not so tragic. <\/strong><\/p>\n On October 5, 2010<\/strong>, President Obama signed into law S. 2781, \u201cRosa\u2019s Law.\u201d<\/strong> Introduced by Sen. Barbara Mikulski in 2009, Rosa\u2019s Law changes references in many Federal statutes that currently refer to \u201cmental retardation\u201d to refer, instead, to \u201cintellectual disability.\u201d<\/p>\n This is well and good.<\/strong> We will no longer use a term which has become demeaning to certain individuals who, through no fault of their own, have impaired learning skills.\u00a0 The Federal government\u2019s terminology will be aligned with that of the American Psychiatric Association and the health division of the United Nations.<\/p>\n The problem, though, is that many\u2014in fact, a majority\u2014of the individuals whose feelings are \u201cprotected\u201d never have the opportunity to worry about what others might call them<\/strong>.\u00a0 That\u2019s because with the expanded use of prenatal screening, pregnant women can know whether the child they carry has a disability, such as Trisomy 21 (Down syndrome).\u00a0 And sadly, when informed that the child she carries will be born with Down syndrome (and at the urging of her physician), 92%<\/strong> of mothers choose to abort. <\/strong><\/p>\n <\/strong>Perhaps it is fear that drives this staggering statistic:<\/strong> fear that they lack the strength and knowledge to accept and raise a special needs child, fear that society will be unkind.\u00a0 Or perhaps it\u2019s selfishness<\/strong>, bred in a society that expects, even demands, that life\u2019s journey will be an easy ride.<\/p>\n *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n My husband and I have been blessed<\/strong> with three talented and healthy children.\u00a0 I do, though, have two very poignant memories of Down syndrome children.<\/p>\n When my own children were young, I taught a Saturday morning catechism class.\u00a0 Just down the hall were the \u201cspecial needs\u201d students; and I remember that one morning in particular, one of them was not feeling well.\u00a0 The sick student lay on a couch in the program director\u2019s office, waiting for her parents to come. \u00a0And around her, unbidden but unwilling to leave their sick friend, the entire class stood in silent sympathy\u2014stroking her cheek and her hair, kissing her fingers, offering a blanket or a drink of water.\u00a0 And loving her.\u00a0 Loving, because that\u2019s what they do best.<\/strong><\/p>\n Years later, I got to know a young woman with Trisomy 21 who, with her parents, attended daily Mass at the Catholic ministry where I worked.\u00a0 She couldn\u2019t remember all the complicated responses during the Mass, but she added her exuberant \u201cAmen\u201d to ours.\u00a0 And she always recognized one longer prayer, and popped in one of her own.\u00a0 When the community prayed \u201cLord, we give you thanks and praise\u2026\u201d<\/strong> she belted out her own simple but heartfelt prayer, \u201cTHANKS AND PRAISE!!\u201d<\/strong><\/p>\n I\u2019m sure that God, looking down from His Throne, smiled at her sincere and simple expression of love. \u00a0I can only hope that my miserable, distracted attempt at worship was accepted as well\u2014especially since I was in such good and holy company.<\/p>\n *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n Sarah Palin, on the campaign trail,<\/strong> described how she felt when she learned, after 12 weeks of pregnancy, that the child she was carrying had Down syndrome.\u00a0 \u201cI said, \u2018God, I don\u2019t think I can handle this. This wasn\u2019t part of my life\u2019s plan.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n But Palin went on to tell of her decision to continue the pregnancy and keep the child. She described her now-two-year-old son Trig as her family\u2019s \u201cgreatest blessing,\u201d and said he was \u201cGod whispering in my ear, saying, \u2018Are you going to trust me? Are you going to walk the walk or are you going to talk the talk?\u2019 \u201d<\/p>\n *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 *<\/p>\n There is criticism among physicians and ethicists<\/strong> for a policy which encourages abortion of Down syndrome fetuses.\u00a0 Commentator George Will<\/span> called it \u201ceugenics by abortion.\u201d\u00a0 Dr. David Mortimer<\/span>, in Ethics & Medicine, wrote that \u201cDown syndrome infants have long been disparaged by some doctors and government bean counters.\u201d\u00a0 Even the controversial bioethicist Dr. Peter Singer<\/span> of Princeton argued that Down syndrome \u201cis not so crippling as to make life not worth living from the inner perspective of the person with the condition.\u201d\u00a0 (Of course Singer, to his detriment, believes that children are not \u201cpersons\u201d until they are two years of age, and that their parents should be permitted to kill them until that time.)<\/p>\n The Catechism of the Catholic Church (2276)<\/strong> notes that \u201cThose whose lives are diminished or weakened deserve special respect.\u00a0 Sick or handicapped persons should be helped to lead lives as normal as possible.\u201d<\/p>\n LORD, PLEASE GIVE OUR SOCIETY the strength and the grace to see that the lives of these most vulnerable of your people are important.\u00a0 Help us to model the virtues which come so naturally to them:\u00a0 a hopeful spirit, a cheerful heart, and an unquestioning faith, and above all, a deep and abiding love.\u00a0 Amen.<\/strong><\/p>\n