Canada Needs to Speak Up

This past week I came into contact with an amazing woman - what an encouragement she has been. Renate Lindeman is the president of the Nova Scotia Down Syndrome Society. Renate has two beautiful daughters who have Down syndrome. Over the years Renate has been speaking out about genetic testing, she has written 8 newspaper articles, she has also done several radio and TV interviews. Unfortunately her initiative has been ignored by many.

Recently, Renate put forth a petition entitled "Canada Needs a Prenatal Diagnosed Awareness Act". This act would ensure that when parents receive a prenatal diagnosis, they would also receive balanced and accurate information (you can find a link to sign this petition to the right). Most currently, Renate has started a "Campaign for Down syndrome" with the initiative of bringing awareness to the impact genetic science in having on our society. This campaign aims to ensure that advancing genetic science will be used to help improve the quality of life for people with Down syndrome.

A few interesting facts that I learned from Renate this week:

• approximately 50% of women decline prenatal screening in the Netherlands because they are not pressured, have support and are given a lot of reliable information, also, they have a law proposal that states women need to have 3 weeks of counseling and information before they can decide to terminate
  
• many European countries as well as the US are preparing legislations on prenatal screening so that it will not lead to discrimination of entire groups. The US has also re-introduced a "prenatal diagnosed condition awareness act"
  
• The UK has organizations that counsel women who have received a prenatal diagnosis.

So, what are we as Canadians doing about the 90% termination rate in our Country? Other countries are speaking out for these babies, yet we remain, for the most part silent. As technological advancements lead to easier, quicker, earlier prenatal diagnosis, it is fair to say the population of people with Down syndrome may greatly decrease, we simply cannot stand by and let this happen. I am sure there are many others out there who feel as passionately about this. If you do, first, make sure you sign the petition to your right, secondly leave a comment on this post (just click on the word comment below) or you can email me at annamariedyck@aol.com. It is time we as Canadians stand up for what is wrong and speak out. Over the next few weeks, I hope to highlight some of Renate's articles and interviews.