The father of a man with Down Syndrome has said society needs to decide whether it wants to have children with Down Syndrome in it [1].
Michael O’Dowd was speaking after it was revealed that 95% of parents diagnosed with a Down Syndrome baby at Dublin’s Rotunda Hospital choose an abortion. He was reacting to a column by David Quinn in The Sunday Independent [2].
Mr O’Dowd, a former Mayor of Drogheda and Aontú representative, told The Hard Shoulder people need to have a balanced and rounded view.
“As a society we need to decide whether we want to have children with Down Syndrome, and the richness and the beauty that they bring to all our lives, or whether we want to have a society without them,” he said.
“The question is there, the gene that causes the chromosome disorder will continue to happen, so this is a discussion that will continue to happen.
“There will never be a situation where we have no Down Syndrome people in the world, but certainly in some societies they’re moving that way unfortunately.”