Categories
Abortion Fetal anomolies and disabilities

New York Times magazine article on Down syndrome

Here is a link to a story in the National Right to Life News about a very interesting article in the New York Times Sunday magazine (of July 31, 2011). http://www.nationalrighttolifenews.org/news/2011/08/a-father%e2%80%99s-love-a-father%e2%80%99s-search/

The magazine article is very touching. It tells the story of Dr. Alberto Costa and his daughter Tyche who has Down syndrome. Dr. Costa is a doctor and a neuroscientist and after the birth of his daughter he has devoted his medical research to Down syndrome. He has developed some promising treatments. The magazine article also notes the efforts of other researchers who have been developing noninvasive tests to allow preganant women to determine whether their unborn babies have Down syndrome. Many pro-lifers fear that these tests will result in a “cure” for Down syndrome by eliminating children with Down syndrome. The article notes the problems researchers have had obtaining funding for Down syndrome research, perhaps because the “problem” will soon be solved by aborting babies with Down syndrome.    

The article is well worth reading.

Richard M.

Richard Myers

Richard S. Myers, the Vice-President of UFL, is Professor of Law at Ave Maria School of Law, where he teaches Antitrust, Civil Procedure, Conflict of Laws, Constitutional Law, and Religious Freedom. He is a Phi Beta Kappa graduate of Kenyon College and earned his law degree at Notre Dame, where he won the law school's highest academic prize. He began his legal career by clerking for Judge John F. Kilkenny of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit. Professor Myers also worked for Jones, Day, Reavis & Pogue in Washington, D.C. He taught at Case Western Reserve University School of Law and the University of Detroit Mercy School of Law before joining the Ave Maria faculty. He is a co-editor of St. Thomas Aquinas and the Natural Law Tradition: Contemporary Perspectives (Catholic University of American Press, 2004) and a co-editor of Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy (Scarecrow Press, 2007). He has also published extensively on constitutional law in law reviews and also testified before Congressional and state legislative hearings on life issues. Married to Mollie Murphy, who is also on the faculty at Ave Maria School of Law, they are the proud parents of six children - Michael, Patrick, Clare, Kathleen, Matthew, and Andrew. http://www.avemarialaw.edu/index.cfm?event=faculty.bio&pid=11705E7D4E0111010366