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If a baby isn’t perfect for your camera-ready existence or optimized lifestyle, perhaps you need to evaluate your own values. Or keep your callousness to yourself.
Rachel Campos Duffy — whose perpetually smiley 6-year-old, Valentina, has Down syndrome — told me recently that people with the congenital condition aren’t nearly as visible as they once were.during an interview last month just ahead of Mother’s Day.
“It’s really tragic how genetic testing has caused their demise. ”YouTuber Jesse Ridgeway posted on X that his wife, Ashley, terminated her pregnancy because the baby was likely to have Down syndrome.
Campos-Duffy’s words hit me hard last week after a Youtuber with 4.3 million subscribers announced that he and his wife decided to terminate a pregnancy because it was likely the baby would be born with Down syndrome.explaining why they aborted their future son — a baby who would surely have arrived into this world with his own set of challenges, but his own unique sense of joy.
“We spoke with doctors, friends, family and genetic counselors and learned that up to 90% of women terminate their pregnancy after learning the baby has Trisomy 21,” he wrote, essentially justifying his decision to participate in eugenics. A smiling Valentina Duffy, who has Down syndrome, always seems to find herself in the middle of the action — including with President Trump in the Oval Office.
The youngest child of Rachel Campos-Duffy and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy’s nine children, Valentina is “the best thing that happened to this family,” according to her mother.
“It will take a little time to move on, but we are excited to try again in the future and hopefully have a better outcome,” Ridgway added, speaking about a new baby the way one would an SAT score. “To all of my fans who have weighed in on this topic who have Autism, Down Syndrome or any other conditions … we appreciate you. You matter a lot and we’re glad you’re here,” he wrote.
Ridgway’s disgusting announcement sparked a massive reaction and debate online. Many people raising children with disabilities flooded his tweet with photos of beloved family members, describing the unconditional love and joy they bring to the world. After he and wife Ashley terminated her pregnancy, YouTuber Jesse Ridgway posted they hope to “have a better outcome” when they try for another child.
It was as much an affirmation of their worth and right to life as it was a condemnation of Ridgway’s casual cruelty. He claimed to be absolutely shocked by the response — perhaps a reflection of how indifferent we have become toward other humans.
“…I realized that more than likely I will have to bury my son, that is not what I wanted to sign up for,”. “I want my kids to outlive me and to be fully functional and be able to live a good life. ”But that’s not life. You cannot sketch it on a pad and engineer it to your specifications to avoid complications or speed bumps.
Comedian Shane Gillis has spoken affectionately about his family members who have Down syndrome, humanizing a vulnerable population with his irreverent humor. Ridgway claimed he hoped to destigmatize the act — but he only highlighted the need for more stigma in our society. When your life is based on clicks and likes, you detach real meaning from it. If a baby isn’t perfect for your camera-ready existence or optimized lifestyle, perhaps you need to evaluate your own values.
Or keep your callousness to yourself. Some people have called BS on this whole story, saying it was a ploy to whip people into a frenzy and, therefore, monetize a controversial topic. Either way, it shows a terrible disregard for a vulnerable population. , who was turning 40.
At the time of Jon’s birth, it was more common for parents to give children with Down syndrome up for adoption or send them to live in an institution. For Will and his then-wife, there was never a choice. Jon was their son. He was going home with them.
Jesse Ridgway and his wife show off a sonogram before they learned their child would likely have Down syndrome. They later shared a lengthy take on why they decided to terminate the pregnancy. But Will reflected on how prenatal testing was leading to that horrific 90% abortion rate, calling it, “unfortunate, and not just for them. Judging by Jon, the world would be improved by more people with Down syndrome, who are quite nice, as humans go.
” The evidence is all over social media, where many creators share their lives with their special needs children or adult siblings, including, whose sister Emily has Down syndrome. They have more than 963,000 followers tuned into Emily’s withering insults — which are so sharp, she should be on the The more counter-programming, the better to flush out the Ridgways and highlight the Wills, the Duffys and the comedy of Shane Gillis, whose niece and Uncle Danny also have Down syndrome.
After receiving backlash to his original post about aborting their child who was likely to have Down syndrome, Jesse Ridgway was defiant — calling for “empathy” and “authenticity”. In one poignant bit, the comedian mocks how uncomfortable people with the normal number of chromosomes can be around those with special needs — asking sheepishly if they are OK, despite themselves being jacked up on antidepressants and other substances.
YouTuber Jesse Ridgeway posted on X that his wife, Ashley, terminated her pregnancy because the baby was likely to have Down syndrome. A smiling Valentina Duffy, who has Down syndrome, always seems to find herself in the middle of the action — including with President Trump in the Oval Office. The youngest child of Rachel Campos-Duffy and Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy's nine children, Valentina is"the best thing that happened to this family," according to her mother.
After he and wife Ashley terminated her pregnancy, YouTuber Jesse Ridgway posted they hope to"have a better outcome" when they try for another child. Comedian Shane Gillis has spoken affectionately about his family members who have Down syndrome, humanizing a vulnerable population with his irreverent humor. Jesse Ridgway and his wife show off a sonogram before they learned their child would likely have Down syndrome. They later shared a lengthy take on why they decided to terminate the pregnancy.
After receiving backlash to his original post about aborting their child who was likely to have Down syndrome, Jesse Ridgway was defiant — calling for"empathy" and"authenticity".
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