By: Ashley Bergeron
Staff-Writer
On April 10, Hoosiers for Life hosted a talk discussing prenatal testing and how it affects abortion services. The event started with HFL President Anne Wolfe and Vice President Mary Garcia giving an overview of the talk, then Saint Mary’s College Assistant Professor of Nursing Science Dr. Rick Becker discussed prenatal testing and abortion. Becker’s son, Nick, who has Down Syndrome, also talked about his experience.
Prenatal testing includes a variety of tests that check on the health of the mother and the fetus. Different tests are done at different points of pregnancy, usually during the first or second trimester. After receiving their results, some people may decide to have an abortion.
As a father of seven, Becker uses his experience as a father to support his anti-abortion stance. He explained that his son Nick has Down Syndrome and one of his daughters is a redhead, and he compared these by saying that parents might want to protect their children from bullying by dyeing their hair another color or even using genetic markers to determine a fetus’s hair color and aborting a future redhead.
Becker clarified that the latter scenario does not happen, but used it to support his point that some people decide to have an abortion after learning through genetic testing that their child may have Down Syndrome. Becker compared these abortions to “Nazi campaigns against the Jews” and eugenics, as people with Down Syndrome can live fulfilling lives.
Becker said that while his Catholic faith informs his position on abortion, he also believes that by performing an abortion, a medical provider violates non-maleficence – the ethical standard in healthcare of “first do no harm.”
He also discussed three doctors who work to prevent abortion in cases of chromosomal abnormalities: Dr. Jerome Lejeune, Dr. Ian Donald and Dr. Albery William Liley. Lejeune, a saint in the Roman Catholic Church, worked on the discovery of trisomy 21 (Down Syndrome) and founded the Pontifical Academy for Life. Donald and Liley worked on ultrasound diagnostics and in-utero blood transfusions, respectively. Liley formed the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child.
Nick Becker then shared his experience as a young adult with Down Syndrome. He was the vice president of the Marion High School student council, played basketball and participated in theater, and now produces videos on YouTube, plays the drums and works at Kroger. He has been able to live a fulfilling life and “be part of the gang,” as his dad says.
