Down syndrome runs in my family. Or at least, it seems to. My sister has downs syndrome, my aunts daughter had downs syndrome, and my great aunt had it as well. I can only hope that there wasn’t anything strange going on, but nonetheless, chromosomes in my family are clingy and we stick to a strict three’s company policy when plausible.
I became a mother in the Spring of 2003, and while I was ready for whatever would happen, there was a tension running through my 9 months. I was ready for a downs syndrome child, I just wanted the courtesy of being able to prepare. On May 28th, 2003 I gave birth to a healthy baby girl. There was a strange happiness knowing that I would experience things like sending her off to college, her stealing my car, and little by little she would experience complete independence from me.
On Tuesday, May 1st, rested from their three day holiday, the Oklahoma legislature voted overwhelmingly to pass a law that allows a doctor to withhold information, mislead or even blatantly lie to a pregnant woman and her partner about the health of their baby if the doctor so much as thinks that fetal test results would cause a woman to consider abortion.
For as long as I can remember, and until I was 19, my parents, siblings and I were the caretakers of Whitney, my downs syndrome sister. There were no after school activities or hanging out with friends, we had to be home to take care of Whitney. My mother worked a job she hated for years just to get adequate health insurance for her. Whitney was also born with a rare condition called moyamoya, causing her to be prone to strokes at birth, and continuing the rest of her life. My family pulled together and we all made sacrifices to make sure that Whitney was taken care of.
My parents still work opposite hours and have sacrificed hopes and dreams to give Whitney the proper care she needs.
When I read about the abortion legislation (HB 2656), I immediately thought about Whitney. A child’s health can change your life, and any doctor should have the decency to inform a mother about her life being changed forever. I can’t imagine how I would have felt the day my daughter was born, if my doctor, the people we trust our health and lives to, had lied to me.
There are situations in life where we would just rather not know, but we should all have the right to. Would a doctor go as far as to not inform a woman she is pregnant until it is too late to get an abortion? This legislation also begs the question of what sort of stereotype does a doctor use to determine what woman would be likely to get an abortion? Who gets the rights to honesty, and who is stereotyped to be lied to?
I read about this legislation this morning and I felt compelled to write. I felt my voice, my opinions should be heard. But as I sit and digest what I have just learned, I feel hopeless. I’m not entitled to honesty anymore, or information that affects my life forever. I am entitled to only the jurisdiction of those who claim morality and preach sovereignty, but legislate their hatred and deceit to the people I love. This legislation extends far past preventing abortion and into information that any person deserves to know, and I am left hoping that the courts will correct the ignorance of our legislature. For Whitney’s sake, and for every person who’s lives are changed by their children.
Voice your opinion on our message board (you don't have to sign up to post).
Faulking Opinions Archives:
Worthless Opinions (In The Beginning) (Mark Faulk, Mar 26, 2004)
More Worthless Opinions (Mark Faulk, Apr 10, 2004)
Lunatic Fringe (Mark Faulk, May 16, 2004)
And The Hits Just Keep On Coming (Mark Faulk, Jun 19, 2004)
The Faulking Truth Dating Service (Mark Faulk, Jul 24, 2004)
As The Guestbook Turns (Mark Faulk, Oct 10, 2004)
A Winning Ticket for 2008 (Mark Faulk, Jan 15, 2005)
Social Security: A Third Choice (Deryl Bryant, Feb 19, 2005)
Who Will Lead? (Kevin M. West, Mar 4, 2005)
What's Up With The SEC? (Daniel J. Popeo, Mar 29, 2005)
Dateline, NBC, and GE: LET THE BOYCOTT BEGIN! (Mark Faulk, Apr 8, 2005)
Letter to SEC: Elimination of Stock Certificates (Lori Livingston, May 31, 2005)
Is Dateline Caving to Pressure From DTCC? (C. Austin Burrell, Jun 24, 2005)
It's time to finish the job....once and for all! (Mark Faulk, Jul 10, 2005)
Demonstration Planned at DTCC - July 29, 2005 (Mark Faulk, Jul 13, 2005)
Notes From Inside New Orleans (Jordan Flaherty, Sep 3, 2005)
The Rational Middle (Robin Buckallew, Sep 15, 2005)
A Pump, Dump and Short to Oblivion (Anonymous by request, Oct 18, 2005)
Robert Kennedy Jr. Speaks About the Media (Katie Hickox, Oct 30, 2005)
A "Viral" Email To Distribute About Stock Counterfeiting (Bob O'Brien, Nov 14, 2005)
Dreaming of a White Christmas.... (Mark Faulk, Dec 4, 2005)
Courts Reject Wedgie for Science; Is O’Reilly Really Just a Schoolyard Bully? (Robin Buckallew, Dec 24, 2005)
Are We the Real Thing? (Robin Buckallew, Jan 5, 2006)
My Mother's (deceased) investment Credo (Henry Wade Harris, Jan 18, 2006)
A Bridge Too Far (Linda C. Wilson, Feb 17, 2006)
We Have a Landslide!!! (Mark Faulk, Feb 27, 2006)
DTCC Claims are Smoke and Mirrors (Dave Patch, Mar 6, 2006)
60 Minutes; From Joe Mainstreet to Daddy Warbucks (Mark Faulk, Mar 26, 2006)
SEC Chairman Cox's Senate Banking Committee Testimony - April 25, 2006 (Mark Faulk, Apr 28, 2006)
Stockgate: Taking it to the States (Mark Faulk, May 26, 2006)
Faulking Truth Editor to Hedge Funds: I’ll be Your Bitch (Mark Faulk, Jun 8, 2006)
The Shelby Shuffle Continues (Mark Faulk, Jun 27, 2006)
It's NAKED Short Selling...NAKED NAKED NAKED NAKED NAKED NAKED!!!!!! Any Questions? (Mark Faulk, Jul 7, 2006)
LIEBERMAN SAYS HIS WEB SITE HAS BEEN ATTACKED! (DtM, Aug 9, 2006)
BUSH DECLARES WAR ON ESTE LAUDER! (Down the Middle, Aug 15, 2006)
Letter to the Editor (Mike Bohling, Oct 9, 2006)
Shelby Out as Banking Committee Chairman!!! (A fond farewell) (Mark Faulk, Nov 8, 2006)
Bloomberg gets it right....Now, ON TO OKLAHOMA!!! (Mark Faulk, Mar 13, 2007)
The Frizzell Factor (Melody Milam Potter, April 4, 2007)
The Emperor has no clothes…Eliot Spitzer resigns! (Mark Faulk, Mar 12, 2008)
For Want of a Magic Wand, the Kingdom was Lost (Mark Faulk, May 7, 2008)
George Carlin - Life is Worth Losing (Mark Faulk, Jun 23, 2008)
Five Years Late and a Trillion Dollars Short (Mark Faulk, Jul 16, 2008)
DON'T (Robin Buckallew, Sep 1, 2008)
Birds Do It, Bees Do it (Robin Buckallew, Sep 14, 2008)
Feed me, Seymour! (Mark Faulk, Nov 7, 2008)
Our Country's Future is at Stake (Steve Walker, Dec 30, 2008)
8 Years in 8 Minutes (Mark Faulk, Jan 22, 2009)
An Open Letter to Urban Casavant (Mark Faulk, Feb 12, 2009)
Open for Questions: Americans Want an End to the Prohibition of Marijuana and Industrial Hemp (Mark Faulk, Mar 26, 2009)
I should have known the odds.... (Anonymous, Jun 20, 2009)
Who Will Speak for the Children? (Anonymous, Jul 2, 2009)
How Many Times Must it be Said? (About Obama) (Anonymous, Aug 3, 2009)
Motivated Personal Assistant Seeks Internet Pervert (Katie Lauren, Aug 20, 2009)
SHUT UP and get back to work!!!!!!! (blog #260) (Darren Saunders, Oct 27, 2009)
Practicing Citizenship (Blog #264) (Darren Saunders, Jan 22, 2010)
WANNA MAKE A BET? (Blog #265) (Darren Saunders, Jan 28, 2010)
Snowbound for life ? (Blog # 267) (Darren Saunders, Mar 4, 2010)
You Gotta Love Them Modern Jeffersonians (Ken Shade, May 8, 2010)
The Hypocritic Oath (Katie Lauren, Jun 4, 2010)
Who Let Conan Write His Own Script? (Robin Buckallew, Jul 11, 2010)
Blacks and Gays in the News (Mark Faulk, Aug 4, 2010)
9/11 Throughout History (The Blame Obama Diaries) (Ken Shade, Sep 11, 2010)
Class Action Suit of Southern Baptist Survivors (Joel Melton, Oct 8, 2010)
Compromise We Didn't Ask For (Mark Faulk, Dec 7, 2010)
What's a Prayer Worth? (S.K. Eleton, May 21, 2011)
Strange Days on Planet Earth (S.K. Eleton, Jul 2, 2011)
Obama to Tea Party: F*#k You! (Mark Faulk, Aug 1, 2011)
When Soldiers Die in Vain (Mark Faulk, Aug 7, 2011)
"Goldman Sachs Rules the World" (Mark Faulk, Sep 27, 2011)
Occupying OKC (Mark Faulk, Nov 10, 2011)
|
|
|
