The Ridgway scandal: America isn't as pro-abortion as you think

On June 3, Jesse Ridgway, a YouTube influencer with millions of followers, told the internet that he and his wife had aborted their baby at about 20-weeks’ gestation. The reason: a test came back showing the child might have Down syndrome. Ridgway explained that he was hoping for “a better outcome” next time. The decision caused a firestorm that hasn’t subsided, with Ridgway continuing to post on various platforms about what happened and the ensuing fallout.

The outrage over the attempted normalization — and dare I say, commercialization — of killing an innocent unborn child just because he isn’t quite what his parents envisioned suggests that, when push really comes to shove, America is more pro-life than we think. It is a country that still rightfully recoils at the idea that a child should die because he or she is not quite perfect. We know, as a country, that a life is not valueless simply because it is not perfect.

The Ridgways publicly posted about what is silently happening all over the world. For many in the medical community, an extra chromosome is something to solve by subtraction of the child. The Ridgways were apparently told that up to 90% of parents who receive a Down syndrome diagnosis for their child choose to end the life of that child. That number is overinflated. Many families in America choose life for their children with Down syndrome. But in some countries, babies with Down syndrome have virtually disappeared. In Denmark, the abortion rate of children with an extra chromosome approaches 100%. The disappearance of an entire group of people is not progress.

Indeed, countless readers responded with outrage to Ridgway’s post, pointing to family members with Down syndrome who both live fulfilling lives and dramatically improve the lives of those around them. One posted a picture of her young daughter with three adoring older brothers, explaining that her daughter “has hearing loss, wears glasses, has potty training issues, and takes a little longer to learn some things. BUT she has made our whole family’s life a million times better just for existing.” One dad introduced anyone facing a similar decision to his 3-year old son Josh, who “loves life, and is thriving.” And one reader posted a picture of his Uncle Tom, “the best guy in the world.”

These echo the scientific research, which refuses to let us pretend we do children a service when we take their lives before they have a chance to live them. Take a Harvard study from 2011 that surveyed people with Down syndrome. Nearly 99% reported being happy with their lives; 99% loved their families; 97% liked who they are; and 96% liked how they looked. Not only that, but their parents and siblings overwhelmingly thought their lives were better because their family included a child with Down syndrome. Compare these astronomical numbers on happiness to those expressed by individuals without Down syndrome. In a recent survey, only 47% of surveyed individuals said they were “very satisfied” with their lives.

When Harvard researchers asked study participants what advice they would give to parents of a baby with Down syndrome, they emphasized that the baby would have a good life. “Don’t be afraid,” one participant wrote. “Your baby will have a wonderful life.” And several participants directly encouraged parents to continue their pregnancies, writing, “You have a nice baby. Please take care of the baby,” “Take the baby home,” and “Don’t abort.”

Jesus Christ has been mentioned in some of the responses to the Ridgways. Here’s what I will say: Jesus was nothing if not a revolutionary. He upended civil society when he bestowed dignity and worth to those whom society thought discardable — namely, women and children. He disrupted a Roman culture that thought nothing of discarding unwanted infants, leaving them to die on trash heaps so frequently that there was actually a name — expositio — for the practice. And yet, Jesus upended all of that, explaining that the Kingdom of Heaven is made up of such as these — of children.

As we look into the beaming faces of children with Down syndrome, we cannot help but get a glimpse of what Jesus meant. Children are valuable not because they have the capacity to be productive, to satisfy parents’ expectations, or to have the “right” number of chromosomes, but because they are made in the very image of God. Take away that cornerstone truth, and the value of life becomes debatable and subjective.

The Ridgways were sold a pack of lies. The siren song to parents, telling them to take the easy way out, echoes the abortion industry’s morally bankrupt talking points. While abortion advocates used to say that abortion should be rare, now women are told to shout their abortions. The goal is obvious: normalize the killing of unborn innocent life.

That Ridgway’s post caused outrage is cause for hope. The killing of innocent unborn life is not so normal after all. We are not so far gone as a culture or a country that we have rationalized the taking of innocent unborn life simply because that child is not perfect. Something deep within us rejects that notion, not least because we know that none of us is perfect. And yet Jesus came to rescue us and to give us a hope and a future anyway.