Jordan is a very happy child.
I have been her Sunday School teacher, Vacation Bible School teacher and Youth Group helper. She sometimes sits in my pew at church, plays with my younger brothers' toys and sits on my lap. At 6, she can only say a few words. However, she can clearly convey what she wants when she wants it.
Jordan was born a Down syndrome baby.
When she was born, Jordan had a blood test performed and tested positive for Down syndrome. Not only did Jordan have Down syndrome, she also had a rare form called mosaic Down syndrome. According to Jordan's mother, Anissa, the doctors were very supportive of them.
Jordan's grandmother, Annette, has two Down syndrome grandchildren. The other child, Allan, is almost 9. Allan's parents found out before he was born that he was going to be a Down syndrome baby. Allan's parents were given the name of a doctor and an appointment date for an abortion. However, his parents decided not to abort him.
Many more expectant mothers are being tested for Down syndrome in their unborn children. These tests can be used for one of two purposes: to help the mother and her child or to give the mother an option for an abortion. My mother decided to be tested during her pregnancies so that she would know which hospital to go to. Her greatest fear was that her child would be born and immediately be taken to another hospital, leaving her at the original hospital.
The other reason for performing a Down syndrome test is to decide whether to abort the child. According to the Washington Post, more than 80 percent of babies in the United States who are diagnosed with Down syndrome before birth are aborted. Other sources quoted the percentages even higher.
This means that out of 100 Down syndrome babies, 80 will never be born. Therefore, those who support people with Down syndrome claim, and rightly so, that these tests do more harm than good. In this instance, a good thing has been used for wrong purposes.
Instead of trying to help the child, mothers who test for Down's often do so to determine whether or not to terminate the pregnancy.
My mom would never have thought of aborting her child. But, as a former special-education instructor, she knew that these births needed special attention that local hospitals could not handle.
Often, the doctors are not as encouraging as Anissa's were. One of the complaints that advocates of Down syndrome children make is that the condition is seen as a hopeless diagnosis. Down syndrome comes in different forms, as Annette found out, and parents are often not told that there is hope for their children.
Jordan has a great personality. She has been my friend since her birth, and I have a little brother about her age; they grew up together.
A second complaint is that mothers who do not want to keep their Down syndrome children are generally given only one option: abortion. They are often not told that there are adoptive parents who are specifically looking for Down syndrome children. These prospective parents are not just looking for any child: They are looking specifically to accept a child with Down syndrome.
This bias against Down syndrome is yet another example of discrimination. This time, the discrimination is against those who actually produce, instead of suppress, happiness.
So, in the face of an increasingly depressing world, we are removing the sunshine and promoting the extinction of a group of special individuals.
An article from the National Association for Down syndrome was titled "If People with Down Syndrome Ruled the World." This article outlined a few of the many great qualities about those with the condition. Some of those were overt affection, truthfulness, creativity, orderliness and being positive.
Those who have lived around those with Down syndrome know that the world would be a less happy place without them. They are extremely special people, and I know about it only from a distance.
I don't know what life in our church would be like without Jordan. I don't even want to.
Lindsay is a senior studying journalism.
