By Susan Brinkmann, OCDS
Staff Writer
This year’s March for Life in Washington, DC will be the scene of a new effort to raise awareness of the massive number of children with disabilities who die every year in eugenic abortions.
According to a report by LifeSiteNews.com, two mothers of disabled children, Eileen Haupt of Vermont and Leticia Velasquez of Connecticut, have gathered dozens of families of disabled children who will form a presence at the March.
The initiative, known as KIDS, (Keeping Infants with Down Syndrome) will commemorate the nine out of 10 Downs babies who are killed every year as a result of prenatal testing.
Leticia Velasquez, a mother of three daughters whose 6-year-old has Down syndrome, said most people are shocked when they learn that 90% of these children are aborted. Velasquez thinks this statistic needs to be better known.
The numbers are especially tragic because prenatal testing on these children is often flawed and is unable to detect whether the child’s condition is mild or severe. Thanks to advances in modern technology, children with mild cases of Downs can live almost normal lives and even those with more advanced cases are living longer and healthier.
Eileen Haupt became active in the pro-life movement after her daughter Sadie was born with Down syndrome and she learned about the high number of these babies who are being aborted.
Haupt told LifeSiteNews that she wants to battle the prevailing idea that disabled children are a mere “burden.”
“They are an absolute blessing. That’s not to say there’s not challenges that go with that,” she said, noting that many believe “that somehow life (with a disabled child) is difficult and it’s negative, and it’s not at all – in my experience, it’s been a positive experience.”
Haupt said that 10-year-old Sadie, whom she boasted is beautiful and uniquely precocious despite her handicap, has “been a total blessing to me.”
KIDS will meet between 11:30 a.m. and noon the day of the March at the National Right to Life Committee headquarters, 512 10th Street, N.W., Washington, D.C.
To join KIDS, contact:
Eileen Haupt
5 Old Pump Road
Jericho, VT 05465
(802) 899-4882
vteileen@comcast.net
Leticia Velasquez
227 Cemetery Road
Canterbury, CT 06331
(860) 556-9116
marysjoys@yahoo.com
