I was reading People magazine the other day, and it got me thinking about the following question:
Why would an expectant mother have amniocentesis performed?
Far and away, the most important reason for doing amniocentesis must be that knowing there are abnormalities early provides the option to get an abortion.
The reason I was thinking about this question is that Sarah Palin underwent amniocentesis; I generally wouldn’t expect someone with her views on abortion to do so, given that, presumably, she would not view abortion as an option.
And indeed, when the test revealed that the baby had Down syndrome, she did not choose to abort. (On the question of Down syndrome and abortion, see also this earlier blog post.)
So what other reason would lead you to undergo amniocentesis?
I guess knowing you have a Down syndrome baby well in advance could be useful for planning. What’s strange, if Palin’s reason for doing the test was early planning, is that she kept not only the Down syndrome news a secret from her own children, but even the pregnancy itself. “Not knowing in my own heart if I was going to be ready to embrace a child with special needs … I couldn’t talk about it,” she said.
She hid the Down syndrome news even after the children were told of the pregnancy. When the baby was born, 14-year-old Willow commented, “He looks like he has Down syndrome.”
Palin’s response: “If he does, you know you will still love him, Willow. It’ll be okay.”
I find all of this incredibly strange. If knowing that the baby had Down syndrome gave Palin the time she needed to embrace the child’s special needs, wouldn’t you think that time would also have been valuable to her children for the same reason? And even after the baby is born, and Willow sees the baby has Down syndrome, the mother is still describing the situation in terms of “if he does,” when she knows the actual truth. Her explanation was that she didn’t know how to break the news.
As a parent, perhaps I err too much on the side of being honest with my kids about things. All my children were raised knowing that their older brother Andrew had died, how he died, when he died, etc. The same is true with respect to the fact that two of my daughters were adopted. When my wife catches me watching shows like COPS with the kids, she makes me change the channel, but I’ve always thought there is value in children knowing something about how the world really is.
I can understand how people would disagree with me: letting an 8-year-old watch COPS may very well be a terrible idea. But can it possibly be a good idea to hide from a 17-year-old or a 14-year-old that their new brother will have Down syndrome?
And can “not knowing how to break the news” possibly be a justifiable rationale for withholding that information?
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Steven,
You ask good questions and point out some odd contradictions. As a parent of a child with some special need (autism spectrum) I know how overwhelming it can be. When we first figured this out we wanted to keep it a secret. Then we talked about it. Then we kept it quiet again. You don’t really know what to do. You have to figure it out over time. Ms. Palin and Mr. McCain will not get my vote this fall, but it will be because of their stand on the issues. I am gonig to respect that Ms. Palin and her husband are the only ones that can figure this issue out and that it is personal.
-Scott
One of my concerns with amniocentesis is that there is a high rate of false positives. I found this site which lists the false positive rates:
http://www.womens-health.co.uk/downs.asp
So, even if the test were positive, there is some small reasonable hope that it was a false positive. I think is a sensible excuse to withhold the information from siblings until it is confirmed after birth.
Heavy D, no one is suggesting in any way that parents don’t have the right to handle things like this however they want. No one is suggesting Palin wasn’t entitled to do what she did.
However, another freedom we have is to base our opinions of people on whatever criteria we want. We form our opinion about whether someone has good judgment based on their actions.
From what I can see about how Palin flew to Alaska in labor, and how she broke the news to her family, she has VERY VERY poor judgment. That’s my opinion.
She’s acting within her rights, I’m acting within mine, and everyone wins.
I too find this extremely strange. My parents have always been fairly open with me, especially as I grew to be a teenager. I thanks them for exposing me to more of the “real world”. If only parents new how much an occasional glass of wine with dinner or a beer could help a kid learn moderation. Now in college, I see kids exposed to alcohol for the first time go nuts and do extremely poorly. Parents need to find a line (and I’m sure its extremely tough) between the amounts of exposure that are suitable and not suitable for a child.
However, I find it appalling that Palin would attempt to hide from her own kids that their sibling had a medical condition. What did she hope to achieve? Did she think that her kids would scorn the child? If she is such a great Christian and has raised her children accordingly there should be no qualms about loving a gift from God. A person is a person, regardless of whether they have Down Syndrome or not.
Maybe she had faith in the power of prayer to change the results of the amniocentesis.
I agree this is curious. My wife and I recently made the decision to forego this test due to the risk of it causing a miscarriage. If abortion is not an option(our situation), potentially killing our unborn child simply so we could know in advance about birth defects seemed unconsciousnable.
Forewarned is forearmed.
Maybe the doctor recommended the procedure, and Palin followed her advice.
Also, it’s sort of the same as knowing your child’s gender in advance. It doesn’t really change anything, but some people want to know and some people prefer not to.
Knowing what she knows – why did she not go to a hospital in Dallas. Her desire to have her 5th baby almost a day later in her small town in Alaska seemed to trump the conservative approach to seek immediate attention in Texas.