{"id":369,"date":"2010-09-15T08:49:59","date_gmt":"2010-09-15T08:49:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/deciding-not-to-screen-for-down-syndrome.html"},"modified":"2010-09-15T08:49:59","modified_gmt":"2010-09-15T08:49:59","slug":"deciding-not-to-screen-for-down-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/deciding-not-to-screen-for-down-syndrome.html","title":{"rendered":"Deciding Not to Screen for Down Syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"

I have a new article about Prenatal Testing at Motherlode, the parenting blog of the New York Times. It is called: “Deciding Not to Screen for Down Syndrome: Why Prenatal Testing Harms as Much as it Helps<\/a>.” It begins:<\/p>\n

<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n

My pregnancy has been an easy one. No morningsickness, more than ample weight gain, minimal aches and pains and good rest. Yet as my husband, Peter, and I walked into the doctor’s office for our first prenatal appointment, I said, “I am dreading this visit.”<\/span><\/p>\n

Our daughter, who is now 4\u00bd, has Down syndrome. She was born when I was 28. Although there is no known cause for Down syndrome (the presence of an extra 21st chromosome), as soon as I conceived Penny, my chances of having another baby with Down syndrome increased significantly, from 1 in 1,000 to 1 in 100. Those chances only increase further as I age.<\/p>\n

But my dread as I walked into the doctor’s office didn’t come from the thought that this new baby might have an extra chromosome. My dread arose from the prospect of talking to a doctor about prenatal testing. <\/p>\n

To continue reading, click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

(And if you’re interested in this topic, please read the comments on the piece and add your own voice to the mix.)<\/p>\n

<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

I have a new article about Prenatal Testing at Motherlode, the parenting blog of the New York Times. It is called: “Deciding Not to Screen for Down Syndrome: Why Prenatal Testing Harms as Much as it Helps.” It begins: My pregnancy has been an easy one. No morningsickness, more than ample weight gain, minimal aches…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7,1,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-369","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-disability","category-down-syndrome","category-family"],"yoast_head":"\nDeciding Not to Screen for Down Syndrome - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/09\/deciding-not-to-screen-for-down-syndrome.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Deciding Not to Screen for Down Syndrome - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"I have a new article about Prenatal Testing at Motherlode, the parenting blog of the New York Times. 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Two major life experiences have shaped her writing and her faith\u00e2\u20ac\u201dcaring for her mother-in-law as she battled cancer and welcoming her daughter Penny into the world after she was diagnosed at birth with Down syndrome. Both experiences expanded and enriched her understanding of what it means to be human and to receive each and every person as a gift.\u00c2\u00a0 A graduate of Princeton University and Princeton Theological Seminary, she is the author of Penelope Ayers: A Memoir, and the forthcoming A Good and Perfect Gift (Bethany House). Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=369"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/369\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=369"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=369"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=369"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}