My oldest child (a daughter) was born with Down’s Syndrome, which involves a variety of both physical and developmental disabilities. I knew early in the pregnancy that she would be born with this disability, but I choose to continue the pregnancy against medical advice, which was to abort the pregnancy. My daughter is now 36 years old and she has been a total delight in my life even with the heartaches of caring for her needs.

I had a normal pregnancy with no complications 2 years after the birth of my first child, but then, 4 years after my first child, I found out I was carrying a baby boy with Down’s Syndrome.

At the time of this pregnancy, I had married into two stepsons,and had adopted two other boys. One of my stepsons had juvenile diabetes, one of my adopted boys had autism and cancer and the other adopted boy was seizure-prone.

I felt total overwhelmed by the prospect of yet another disabled child (I was 24 years old at the time), so I had an abortion. It was probably the biggest mistake I ever made in my life. I miss my little boy every day and wonder what he could have been and done.

So often we see disability as an absolute, like the person is the disability rather than the disability simply being an attribute of the person. We are ALL disabled and enabled in a variety of ways. I am extremely artistically challenged, but my oldest daughter can draw and paint wonderfully.

I believe that parents need to consider what they are doing very carefully before having an abortion of any type, even if it is medically recommended. This is something that will stay with you for life, even if it does seem like the right decision at the time.