Palin: God Gave Me a Down Syndrome Child To Help the Pro-Life Movement

Sarah Palin just gave a fascinating interview with James Dobson of Focus on the Family. One of the most interesting moments is when she suggests that God gave her Trig, the child with Down Syndrome, in part to help promote the pro-life agenda:

"I've always had near and dear to my heart the mission of protecting the sanctity of life and being pro-life, a hardcore pro-lifer, but I think this opportunity for me to really be walking the walk and not just talking the talk. There's purpose in this also for a greater good to be met. I feel so privileged and blessed to have been, I guess, chosen to have Trig enter our lives because I do want it to help us in our cause here in allowing America to be a more welcoming nation for all of our children."

More from the interview here.

Comments

[arvay]

These religious wackos are all cut from the same cloth. Minister Hagee, friend of Israel and Joe Lieberman, believes that Adolph Hitler was sent by God to motivate Jews to become Zionists.

Amazing how utterly stupid and inhuman these people are!

[jeniferdaniels]

can't wait for those medical records.

[sarale23]

What do you expect to find there?

[omac112211]

Okay. So why, when your waters broke in Dallas, did you decide to board a commercial flight, possibly putting yourself, Trig and the passengers at risk. Land in Alaska, travel some more, to a small local hospital to give birth. Travelling some 14-16 hours?

[XME]

I was born with a birth defect, and even though I've been very fortunate, if I became pregnant and found out my baby would have the same defect, I would choose not to have the baby.

The far right seems to think that those who believe in a pro-choice country don't hold life as dearly as THEY do. I believe all life is precious (and not just human life!)...b­ut I also don't believe in bringing a child into the world who may have so much against them that their life feels like more of a challenge than something they can ENJOY. That doesn't mean I feel their life is less precious, it just means that I come from a unique position of not wanting to give someone a life in which they feel it's more of a burden than a gift, and I don't feel that should be anyone's choice but the mother's.

[sarale23]

That's exactly the difference: you'd choose NOT to have a Down syndrome baby, while Sarah Palin and the pro-life women choose to HAVE it.

I think that all that pro-choice blablabla is nothing but an excuse for lack of personal responsibility.
Tell me ain't so, Joe.

[XME]

Wow, you SO don't get it. It's not about "personal responsibility". I have no problem raising a child with a severe birth defect...I have a problem with what that person will have to go through throughout there life. It's not about ME, it's about that person's life. Pro-lifers seem to not consider that perhaps a person with a severe disability by not want to have to have a life like that. My point was that, as someone with a disability, I get that there is another side, the person who has LIVE that life. They don't get to decided, and sometimes there more to it than just ANY life is worth living.

[jbgnyc]

I have a dear friend with a Downs Syndrome child. Early on, he seemed incredibly "OK." We even doubted the diagnosis at birth. But as the months and years have passed, while still delightful and amazing and caring, this child has very, very special needs that demand hours of his parents' time and all kinds of special schooling. Never have I heard Sarah Palin talk about what Trig will need, because, either she has no clue or she doesn't really care. As Peggy Noonan wrote recently: the fatal flaw with Sarah Palin is she's all ambition, but not for anything beyond promoting herself.

[jeanrenoir]

Yeah, Palin 's new low for Republican slimeball monsters of ambition. She'll use Trig as ruthlessly to get ahead as anything or anybody else. She's done her best to destroy McCain, who deserved the destruction since he put Country Last by picking this Snopes with lipstick. Obama will eviscerate her in '12 if Huckabee or some other Republican loser doesn't do it first.

[BabsfromKansas]

The G0P are NOT pro-life, they are pro-birth. There is a huge difference! What they do not advocate is the real pro-life issues: childcare, w omen's rights, health care, education, clean energy, and ending the w ar. The religious right are wrong. They stand for the false mantra that every conception should result in a birth - even in the case of r ape or in cest. If they were truly pro-life, they would not have squandered over a trillion dollars on the wa r. If they were truly pro-life, they would not support to rture or ki lling animals at close range from a helicopter. If they were truly pro-life, 46 million Americans would not be without health insurance.

[syryn22]

McCain suggests that "we" will help women who elect not to have abortions with their babies. Who is "we"? What kind of help will "we" provide? Free healthare for the woman and her baby? Daycare expenses? Food and clothing costs? I laughed so hard watching this because I know the truth. That's the problem with pro-lifers or whatever they call themselves. They never think about what happens after the woman carries her child to full term. But guess what? Our "socialistic" system will help support that child with Medicaid, welfare, food stamps, and Section 8. Is that the kind of "help" McCain had in mind? Or, is he and his cronies going to take on babysitting duty? People will say anything to get elected.

[MajorKong]

Sure Sarah, it's all about you. You may or may not be the centerpiece of the divine plan but it's certainly prideful to say that you are.

[NFS]

I agree with you. As the mother of a young adult daughter with disabilities, I wish Ms. Palin would zip it until she knows exactly what being a parent of a child with disabilities entails. Our challenges are real and many of us don't have staff or people to assist us in caring for our children to we can work, so our household incomes suffer. I do believe having a child with special needs is a special assignment from God, with tremendous challenges not too many can handle, but I disagree with Ms. In addition, I'm not too sure she is necessarily sincere about her promise to assist families with special needs children, since she and McCain have voted against key legislature that would help families like ours.

This is special assignment from God--not to condemn anyone on their personal choices (although I do not believe in abortion), but to share with others how everyone including children and adults with disabilities, should be loved like anyone else and allowed to live quality lives. The community is also multicultural, crossing the all lines of creed, culture, race, sexual orientation and ethnicity.

If they were smart...an­d they're not, they would be doing some serious campaigning towards the disability community of 56 million people, and the people whose lives they have touched, not this "oh by the way" stuff. It's negligible to them and it's apparent. That's why more than 50% of the disability community favors Obama.

[DixieMelody]

Hypocrisy is alive and well in Palin's view of herself as being "pro-life.­"

She is "Pro-Life" EXCEPT for . . .

> innocent animals killed for sport,

> our family members dying in the Bush follies in Iraq and Afghanastan

> "collateral damage" in those countries the US occupies.

[HenryClovis]

Well said DixieMelody.

[2belinda]

Gov. Palin, ALL children are a blesssing and a gift.
A pregnancy after age 35 increases the risk for having DS and the markers go up for many other birth defects. After age 40 the risks are even greater. It's a medical fact. It's why pregnancies after a certain age are called "high-risk"
This is why sex-education is so important at any age. I agree with Miravanguild, " a little pre-planning and education might be even more pro-life"

[Miravanguild]

If she had studied the health charts before she got pregnant she might have known that the chances of having a child like this goes way up after forty.. So she may have prevented it all together with a little family planning.. My reaction? How nice for her, but many women are not in the social/economic position to care for a special needs child. I am not saying that abortion is a good option if tests show that the baby has serious problems..­. Children with Down's Syndrome do grow up to have independent lives for the most part.. All I am saying is a little pre-planning and education might be even more pro-life..

[outnow]

The chances of having a Down's syndrome child rise exponentially after age 35. Using a condom would be indicated, or a tubal ligation or a vasectomy (for Todd).

I sympathize with parents of exceptional children but prudence would require some precautions in family planning. The entire mess has more to do with Palin's limited compassion for the unborn than it does with god's grace. A case of wrongful life could be brought against anyone so negligent as to, in effect, intentionally create such grief. I say this knowing parents of Down's syndrome children. These children die early and are not all that "happy."

Women have screening for Down's by amniocentesis or chorionic villus sampling starting at young ages. Why would a comparatively older woman ignore such a risk knowing the consequences? Her choices have nothing to do with god and everything to do with her ego. Our country cannot endure anymore "religious" persons after Bush and his hypocrisy.