The mother of a little girl with Down Syndrome has hit the headlines after she posted a letter to the doctor who urged her to have an abortion.
Courtney Baker, from Florida, says the doctor who diagnosed her daughter Emersyn Faith with the condition urged her to ‘terminate’ the pregnancy, warning that her family would have a lower quality of life with the child.
She refused the medic’s advice and a picture of one-year-old Emersyn with the letter just before it was sent has now been shared thousands of times on social media.
Heartbroken
Addressing the doctor, Baker wrote: “I’m not angry. I’m not bitter. I’m really just sad. I’m sad the tiny beating hearts you see every day don’t fill you with a perpetual awe.
“I’m sad the intricate details and the miracle of those sweet little fingers and toes, lungs and eyes and ears don’t always give you pause.”
She added: “I’m sad you were so very wrong to say a baby with Down syndrome would decrease our quality of life and I’m heartbroken you might have said that to a mommy even today. But I’m mostly sad you’ll never have the privilege of knowing my daughter, Emersyn.”
“My prayer is that you, too, will now see true beauty and pure love with every sonogram”, she concluded.
Discrimination
On 21 March this year people around the world marked World Down Syndrome Day by raising awareness of what Down Syndrome is and how people living with it play a “vital role in our lives and communities”.
Speaking for the Pro-Life Alliance, Josephine Quintavalle said: “Today we celebrate World Down Syndrome Day. Tomorrow we roll up our sleeves and renew our opposition to all forms of discrimination, especially those taking place in the womb.”
Tragically, recent figures show that on average 92 per cent of babies diagnosed before birth with Down Syndrome in England and Wales are aborted each year.