According to Politico, Micahel Barone, the influential pundit and co-author of the Almanac of American Politics, told about 500 people yesterday that "the liberal media attacked Sarah Palin because she did not abort her Down syndrome baby. ... They wanted her to kill that child. ... I'm talking about my media colleagues with whom I've worked for 35 years.”
First of all, the disability community prefers we refer to babies and children and grown-ups with Down syndrome as people with Down syndrome, not "Down syndrome people." Now, I'm not going to deny that we live in a nation where 85 to 90 percent of women who receive a definitive prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome choose to terminate their pregnancies. So it was only natural that the media and public were curious about Sarah and Todd Palin's choice -- and it was a choice -- to carry their pregnancy to term, especially considering the pressures of the governorship and the fact that they were busy caring for three other kids. It wasn't out of line or offensive to conclude that this was a couple profoundly affected by their religious beliefs, and that if Sarah Palin had become vice president or president, she would likely govern with those beliefs in mind. She did, after all, proclaim on the campaign trail her support for constitutional amendments banning abortion and gay marriage.
So it's not necessarily that the press and public believed Sarah Palin should have aborted her adorable baby. Rather, skeptics understood that Palin would have wanted, very much, to stop other women from making their own choice in similar situations. This was deeply discomfiting. And it's a legitimate line of inquiry, especially considering Palin's continued national ambitions.
--Dana Goldstein
