Please excuse another Sarah Palin related diary, but I'm writing this to address a wider issue that is being taken for granted in the commmentary about our new GOP VP pick.
From a comment on the New York Times 'Ms. Alaska' story:
I fail to see why abortion and her child with Down’s Syndrome are being so quickly linked. It appears to be almost an attempt to associate abortion with eugenics.
Much is being made about the fact that Sarah Palin is pro-life, and rightly so. This is a galvanizing issue for the GOP's idealistic base and will help them in their get out the vote measures this year. A comment I've noticed alot about how her infant son Trig has Down's Syndrome and that because of her strong beliefs against abortion she carried the child to term anyways. An "admittedly pro-abortion" commentator on Hannity and Colmes last night (I watch because I hate myself) made a big deal about how he cries when he sees pro-lifers with developmentally disabled kids. I have to speak out against the assumption that hides under Palin's canonization.
Trig Palin is perfect, there's no doubt about it. He's just the way God made him. But the pro-Palin commentary betrays a sickening outlook in the public discourse when a person is exhalted for not aborting their handicapped child. Such a choice is the woman's to make, sure, but you don't get moral brownie points for not aborting a child with an extra #21 chromosome.
Bearing a developmentally disabled child is not a badge of honor. Refusing to abort your child because you see it to be sub-human is not an act of courage. The act of caring for and protecting that child from a world that thinks it should never have lived in the first place is the true test of a parent's devotion, and THAT deserves praise. Sarah Palin hasn't done that yet. And although the argument that she doesn't belong on the campaign trail because she should be caring for her infant is sexist (and should be cleansed from our discourse here at dKos), I think Palin loses the shine of taking on such a "burden" by turning around and making the selfless sacrifice a matter of political gain.
Now, she's never made these claims herself, it's the conservative chatter that surrounds it that offends me. There are examples of this exhaltations here, here, and even on Reuters:
She has a compelling personal narrative for religious conservatives capped by the fact that she opted to have her fifth child even though she knew he would have Down's syndrome -- making her a darling of the anti-abortion movement.
Is this an assumption that the greater public makes? Am I alone amongl liberals in thinking that abortion for eugenic means is abhorrant? Am I crazy to think that conservatives who exhalt this choice are making a repugnant assumption that kids with Down's are a horrible burden and despite thei humanity, have the slimmest reason to live?
The New York Times' Amy Harmon wrote this article describing how pre-natal screening has led to a 90 percent abortion rate for pre-screened diagnoses of Down's syndrome. So I suppose Gov. Palin's choice is the rare one. I have a sister with several developmental disorders. I am close with many kids with Down's syndrome. Making the choice to bring them into the world is beautiful, but it isn't an act of charity. It is not proof positive of some saintly will to protect life, it is simply the right thing to do.
I am against any government that would limit, in ANY way, a woman's right to choose to do the right thing, but I have to stand up against a GOP chatter machine that seeks to tout this choice of Palin's as a symbol of pro-life overcoming eugenics. They are taking advantage of a public perception that retarded kids are OKAY to be aborted, and spinning it to show how choice is cruel. If Palin wants to be a good mother to Trig, she should take no extra credit for her child's life and instead spend some time and lobby for funds for Child Services in her state and be a proponent of the Special Olympics. She should work to bring better healthcare to family's who care for their handicapped kids, and ensure that adults with these disorders receive the proper care and housing and opportunities that are due to any human being. Republican and Democratic governments are always cutting care for the disabled before more social programs because, believe it or not, kids with Down's syndrome and other disorders don't vote or participate in the public conversation quite as much as the rest of us. These folks would rather see them as a symbol of courage and sacrifice.