Amy Julia Becker: Why Do Some See My Daughter’s Life As Wrongful?
(Huffington Post)
March 21, 2012
NEW YORK, NEW YORK– [Excerpt provided by Inclusion Daily Express]Over the course of the past five years, I’ve read news reports of a series of “wrongful birth” lawsuits in which parents won millions of dollars for the ongoing care of their children. In each case, the parents claimed they would have had an abortion if they had known ahead of time about their child’s disabilities.
There was Ana Mejia of Florida who was awarded $4.5 million after her son Bryan was born with no arms and one leg. And Ran Zhuang, of Boston, who received $7 million to care for her daughter Annie. Most recently, Ariel and Deborah Levy have made the news due to their successful lawsuit against Legacy Health Systems. Jurors awarded the Levys $3 million because, in spite of extensive prenatal tests, they did not learn during Deborah’s pregnancy that their daughter has Down syndrome.
As the mother of a child with Down syndrome, I could write an essay in which I criticize Ariel and Deborah Levy or question their devotion as parents or express sadness or outrage over their decision. But I can’t see what good that essay would do. We live in a culture where disability is on the one hand celebrated as a mark of human diversity (think of Becky on Glee) and even, in some cases, genius (think of Stephen Hawking or the movie My Left Foot).
We also live in a culture where disability is viewed as an obstacle to be overcome through prenatal testing. In Denmark, for instance, free prenatal screening has led to such a decline in births of babies with Down syndrome that the Danish government predicts they will cease altogether by 2030. In the United States, fifty percent of babies with Down syndrome are aborted, and that number may well increase in light of recent advances in prenatal testing. Both Legacy Health Systems and the Levys themselves participated in a system that assumes life with a disability like Down syndrome is a life not worth living.
Ironically, for the thousands of babies born with Down syndrome each year, life is pretty good. And it seems to me that telling the story of that good life is the best response to these stories of wrongful births.
Entire article:
Why Do Some See My Daughter’s Life As Wrongful?
http://tinyurl.com/ide03211202a
Related:
Oregon’s “Wrongful Birth” Case (Disability Rights Oregon)
http://www.droregon.org/the-dro-blog/oregons-wrongful-birth-case
Living with Down Syndrome (Oregon Public Broadcasting)
http://www.opb.org/thinkoutloud/shows/living-down-syndrome/
Amy Julia Becker’s website
http://www.amyjuliabecker.com
Planet of the Blind 