This entire piece is a Must Read.
I am so bloody tired of being used as a pawn by both the left and the right in reproductive rights rhetoric, I could scream. And in fact, I often do. The right tells us that they oppose bodily autonomy and choice because it would lead to abortion of “precious angels,” which is apparently code for “disabled people,” while the left, well, unfortunately often claims that the worst catastrophe ever would be to have a disabled child, so it’s a good thing we can screen for that sort of thing and prevent it from happening.
I’m a disabled person, and I actually wholly support prenatal screening and full access to prenatal care, because I think it can result in healthier pregnancies and better outcomes for both pregnant people and infants. On its own, prenatal screening is value neutral — it’s a way to find out more about what is going on with a pregnancy. I fail to see how that could be a bad thing, because in my opinion, the more you know about a pregnancy, the more you can support the health of mother and fetus.
Unfortunately, prenatal testing often gets twisted for other uses.
The assumption people like Santorum are making is that when prenatal screening uncovers disability, the automatic response is to abort. That’s… not necessarily the case. In fact, prenatal screening for disability can help parents prepare, and may result in being informed about measures they can take to make pregnancy, labor and delivery safer. It can also help medical teams address and possibly prevent complications that might arise in connection with disabilities.
Oh, fuck you some more, Rick Santorum. Really? You think pre-natal testing is bad? Are you going to pay the health bills for every family that has a severely disabled child and can’t afford all the health costs? Are you going to be there to support the the child who is born with a life-threatening disability/disease when they find out may not live to see 30? Fuck you. Fuck you in your frothy asshole.
Seriously, the more I hear from this guy the more I want to punch him in his stupid nuts. And anyone who supports him.
