The Scrapbook has long suspected that the first rash of antipathy toward Sarah Palin—the immediate, vituperative, sputtering hatred that was manifested within hours of her announcement as John McCain’s vice presidential pick—was triggered not by her politics but by her family. Palin has a gaggle of children and one of them, Trig Palin, has Down syndrome. To a certain kind of liberal mind, children with Down syndrome are a walking, talking rebuke to the abortion-on-demand regime. They are a provocation.
The connection has just been made explicit in France. In 2014 the nonprofit Jérôme Lejeune Foundation aired a short, two-and-a-half-minute video on three French TV networks. Titled “Dear Future Mom,” it featured a number of children and young adults with Down syndrome, along with their mothers, talking about what life is like for them. It is one of the most heartwarming acts of witness you will ever see, and if you have ever known a mother who has learned that her baby has Down, you can imagine what a comfort it might be. Especially considering that most of the civilized world encourages the abortion of babies with Down. And most mothers comply. In most countries with prenatal testing, the abortion rate for babies with Down is well north of 80 percent. In many of them, it is above 90 percent. In France, the figure is 96 percent.
This explains why Down syndrome advocacy groups have made a real effort in recent years to explain that children with Down are typically happy and able to lead beautiful, fulfilling lives, contributing a great deal of love and joy to the world around them. This is the message of “Dear Future Mom.”
But after the Jérôme Lejeune Foundation persuaded French networks to air “Dear Future Mom” as a kind of extended public service announcement, the Conseil supérieur de l’audiovisuel (a French version of the FCC) received complaints and ruled that the video could not be broadcast as a commercial. Why? It was “inappropriate” because the testimonials were “likely to disturb the conscience of women who had lawfully made different personal life choices.” Last week, the foundation lost its appeal in a French court (though it says it will appeal to the European Court of Human Rights).
The cult of “choice” will brook no provocation. Even—or rather, especially—from the smiles of children with Down syndrome.
