Patricia Bauer, a former Washington PostÂ
reporter and the mother of a child with Down
syndrome,
writes on the Post's Op-Ed page
today about the societal pressure to abort a
disabled unborn child. People look at her child "curious,
surprised, sometimes wary, occasionally disapproving or
alarmed." At a recent dinner party, an Ivy League
professor, specializing in ethics naturally, instructed the table
that parents have a duty to undergo prenatal
testing to ensure that disabled children don't enter
the world. "When I started to pipe up about our family's
experience," writes Bauer, "he smiled politely and turned to the
lady on his left."Â
A pediatrician in Los Angeles, who used to see manyÂ
children with disabilities, now sees none. He informed Bauer
that on the west side of L.A. they are just not born
anymore. Â
