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YouTuber Jesse Ridgway and his wife, Ashley, have made a difficult decision.
At first, they were thrilled to share the news of their pregnancy.
However, genetic tests revealed that their potential child might be born with Down Syndrome.
The Ridgways chose to terminate the pregnancy. Now they are receiving death threats.
The Ridgways chose to terminate the pregnancy
When the Ridgway family — who constantly film themselves through the ups and downs of their lives, making them successful YouTubers — first learned that their potential child might have Down syndrome, they thought it was just a coincidence.
The genetic testing company they used returned false positive results for some patients, and lost a lawsuit over the issue. They hoped to be among them. They weren’t.
“This week, my wife and I made the very difficult decision to terminate our pregnancy due to Trisomy 21,” Ridgway shared on his Instagram Story.
Trisomy 21 is the more formal name for the genetic abnormality. As the name suggests, the 21st chromosome exists in triplicates rather than as a diploid. This causes a series of differences.
In general, people with Down syndrome have slightly different facial features, decreased muscle tone, and may experience developmental delays in some academic areas. some Babies with Down syndrome must undergo open-heart surgery as newborns, or they may not live long enough to go home.
“The choice was not made easily,” Ridgway said. “We are devastated.”
“This was very traumatic for both of us, especially Ashley,” he admitted.
Ridgway explained that his wife underwent “the procedure earlier this week” and explained that “everything went smoothly.”
“But we are emotionally exhausted,” he added.
The decision to terminate a pregnancy is easy for some, and difficult for others. Jesse and Ashley were very excited, but they knew this wasn’t for them.
Death threats continued
Jesse and Ashley made this decision based on the advice of doctors, friends and family.
They also knew they were not prepared to care for a child with special needs.
As Jesse pointed out while posting about this topic, some children with Down syndrome grow up to live independently. Many of them remain dependent on their parents for life.
Again, these are those who live to adulthood. This is not universal.
The Ridgways were subjected to a barrage of hate and death threats, from people who accused them of “murder” for having an abortion, as well as from people who accused them of discriminating against people with disabilities. He took Jesse to his stories to applaud.
At the risk of getting too personal, even if it’s you He does If you have an immediate family member with Down Syndrome, you don’t know what this particular couple was going through.
Aside from the usual public that opposes abortion and believes it is murder, this is not a eugenics practice.
This is the pair that said we are unprepared To be parents of a disabled child. This is honest of them, and is much better for everyone – especially the future child – than diving into it first and then realizing it’s too much too late.
It is true that any child can become disabled. But anyone who truly cares about children should want to have the best parents ever.
Do not send death threats or convictions to Ridgways. It’s unproductive but it’s not worth it.
We’ll never fully understand why they decided to film this (or many other aspects of their lives), but that’s their job.
