According to The New York Times, about ninety percent of unborn children who are diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted. …  A likely cause is the prevalent cultural notion that “flawed” human beings do not have lives worth living.

What parents are told about their child’s future and how they are told it often influences whether that child is born at all. That’s why Senators Sam Brownback and Ted Kennedy have co-sponsored the “Prenatally and Postnatally Diagnosed Conditions Awareness Act”.

The act (S 1810) mandates that health care providers provide the mother of an unborn or newly born child with “up-to-date, scientific, written information concerning the life expectancy, clinical course, and intellectual and functional development and treatment options for a fetus diagnosed with or child born with Down syndrome or other prenatally or postnatally diagnosed conditions.” In addition, the health care provider must provide “referral to supportive services providers,” including hotlines, resource centers, and support programs. These measures seek to ensure that medical advice to parents of developmentally disabled children is accurate and balanced.