What Doctors Don't Tell YouDespite medicine’s attempts to protect mothers from having Down’s babies, the incidence of the condition is going up. It could either be because the tests usually amniocentesis or alpha fetoprotein are not detecting the condition or because the pare
The condition could be even more prevalent in Britain if a new law is passed. The Termination of Pregnancy (Restriction) Bill would make it illegal to terminate the pregnancy purely because Down’s was detected.
In a new book*, the result of over 30 years’ research into Down’s children, the condition is perhaps not as daunting as medicine would have us believe. Psychologist Janet Carr has monitored a group of 54 Down’s children since 1964 and found they did not suffer from ill health any more than a similar group of normal children. There was no significant excess of marital stress or breakdown in parents of Down’s children, and there were no adverse effects on siblings.
*Down’s Syndrome (Cambridge University Press 1995) by Janet Carr.
!AThe Lancet, May 4, 1996.
Daniel Redwood DC
Tom Ferguson MD
