Have you ever wondered why we see so few children with Down syndrome today compared to past generations? The single biggest reason is that in the United States roughly 9 out of 10 babies are aborted if they are diagnosed with Down syndrome as a result of prenatal testing.[1]

Over and against this devastating statistic, we have “World Down Syndrome Day,” recently observed on March 21st. With particular appeal to The United Nations Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, “World Down Syndrome Day” calls upon governments to increase support for those who have this genetic condition. On their webpage celebrating the day, we see the following:

Everyone needs support sometimes.

• • • People with Down syndrome need support to live and be included in the community, like everyone else.
    • Families also need support, as they are often supporting their family member with Down syndrome.
    • Support is a key human right that helps make other rights possible.

 The support that we need is different for each person.[2]

It is heartening to see a call to support those with Down syndrome. But the declaration is finally meaningless, for the United Nations, which has officially observed the day since 2012, is the same United Nations that also calls for abortion to be recognized as a woman’s basic right. In the introduction to the UN’s Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination against Women we read:

The Convention also affirms women’s right to reproductive choice. Notably, it is the only human rights treaty to mention family planning. States parties are obliged to include advice on family planning in the education process and to develop family codes that guarantee women’s rights “to decide freely and responsibly on the number and spacing of their children and to hove (sic) access to the information, education and means to enable them to exercise these rights.”[3]

In standard euphemism, this is a call for abortion.

As obvious from the statistic quoted above, the real danger is children being targeted for Down syndrome—and death!— before they are born. Notably, Trisomy 21, the particular chromosomal disorder that causes Down syndrome, is not usually life threatening (as is Trisomy 13 or Trisomy 18). But it does come with limitations that make life difficult not only for those with Down syndrome, but for their families and others who support them. One can readily agree with the notion that “support is a key human right that makes other rights possible,” but such support is meaningless if it does not start by protecting the lives of children with Down syndrome before they are born.

One cannot support the rights of Down syndrome children and support the right to kill them.

NOTES

[1] See http://humanlifereview.com/testing-down-syndrome-to-death/

[2] https://www.worlddownsyndromeday.org/2025-theme

[3] https://www.un.org/womenwatch/daw/cedaw/text/econvention.htm#article3