"I am Gabriel, God's messenger," 22-year old Gabriel Cobb told OSV News.

Cobb, pictured with his parents just before going into the UN New York conference hall added: "My faith is the most important part of my life. I like to attend Mass daily and proclaim loudly."

He was set to address a UN gathering of advocates for those with Down syndrome and autism. They were discussing the challenges families face when they are raising children with different developmental expectations and milestones.

"Gabriel is not a professional speaker, but somehow God thinks he has a message to share," his mother Lori Cobb told OSV News.

The family stopped by nearby St Agnes Church on the way to the UN building, she added.

"After all, I am Gabriel, God's messenger," Gabriel reiterated.

At the UN meeting, experts on Down syndrome and autism made some of the first speeches.

One spoke about "international agreements" which "reaffirmed that persons with disabilities are equal in dignity and rights.

"Governments should strive to provide social protection measures to families which are primarily responsible for the development, educational and well-being of children with autism and Down syndrome, and very often remain their main sources of social protection," she said.

Cobb's speech highlighted the role his family played in his life.

"I have two loving parents who have always kept the ball high," he told the UN.

As the Catholic triathlete spoke, a screen of photos played over his right shoulder. He explained each photo: doing chores with his father; playing piano and reading books with his mother. The books include William Shakespeare and Mary Shelley's "Frankenstein."

Other photos showed him swimming, biking and running.

Then he told the UN he is a triathlon athlete, competing in races in which he has to run, swim and bike. He's a repeat triathlete too - he's competed in ten races so far.

"I have done it, I am a triathlete," he exclaimed, to loud applause.

Cobb vowed "to continue to … compete" and he thanked the "coaches, family and friends, who have encouraged me to press boundaries".

With the vow he added a prayer: "I pray that I have given them joy and inspiration, because with their help, I have Down syndrome and I have no limitations."

Source

• OSV News

He was like "a fourth Wise Man," offering his gifts of intelligence and medical and scientific know-how to a vulnerable child who "was waiting for him," she says.

The French geneticist (13 June 1926 - 3 April 1994) was one of the most important "servants of life in the world" says Dugast, who wrote the late scientist's biography and is officially promoting his sainthood cause.

Lejeune was also "a servant of charity," she says. He showed unconditional love that was rare at the time for these born and unborn children who were at risk of abortion.

Dugast spent 14 years researching and compiling evidence for Lejeune's cause.

She compiled the research into a book "Jérôme Lejeune: A Man of Science and Conscience."

In it she outlines the Lejeune's life and work. He contributed to finding the cause of Down syndrome, staunchly opposed abortion and tirelessly supported his "tiny patients" and their families.

Lejeune's cause advanced this year when Pope Francis recognized his life of heroic virtue and declared him "venerable."

The confirmation of a miracle attributed to his intercession will be needed for the next step in the process, beatification.

Working with others, Lejeune found evidence in 1958 that the physical and intellectual impairments of Down syndrome or Trisomy 21, were caused by an extra copy of chromosome 21.

This "was a revolution for the family," Dugast says. Until then, people believed the birth of a child with this impairment "was the end of the world."

Many imagined it to be a punishment for sin, a genetic impairment that could be passed on by other family members and a matter of shame.

The stigma for many remained, however.

Dozens of mothers told Dugast meeting Lejeune was the first time anyone looked at their child with love rather than disgust or embarrassment.

He showed "so much love it was as if he had before him a prince or Christ on the cross or, another (mother) told me, ‘He looked at my child as if he had the eyes of Christ,'" Dugast says.

He would hold and play with the child and speak humbly and truthfully to the parents in an uncomplicated way that somehow transformed them, giving them "a new strength" and a feeling they were no longer alone in the world.

While he couldn't find a cure for Down syndrome, he did "cure the hearts of the parents and child," Dugast says.

"Instead of pursuing fame and fortune he dedicated himself to offering medical care and support to these children, especially as prenatal testing became more common and abortion was legalized."

He believed funding, research and time was better spent on finding a cure and better care rather than using the field of medicine to kill the patient when a cure could not be found.

"When you kill a patient, you're also killing hope, the hope in medical science," Dugast explains.

"His holiness is founded on love … and his intelligence."

Source

• Catholic News Service
• Image: Daily Mail

The bills were included in the UK Government's flagship Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill.

If passed in a vote on Monday this week, the proposed New Clause 55 would have allowed abortion, for any reason, up to birth.

The other bill - New Clause 42 - proposed introducing jail sentences for people demonstrating outside abortion clinics. It was also withdrawn on Monday.

"I welcome the fact that the radical amendment (New Clause 55), which was well outside the scope of the bill, was withdrawn," says Bishop John Sherrington, who leads the bishops' Life Issues portfolio.

"It would have swept away the few protections remaining for the unborn child and enabled abortion on demand as well as removing the possibility of the doctors' conscientious objection."

Commenting about the withdrawal of the abortion clinic censorship zone (New Clause 42) he said "we must stay vigilant to attempts to widen access to abortion by hijacking other bills."

Sherrington thanked the thousands of people who lobbied MPs "and helped to prevent dangerous amendments to the bill from moving forward."

Right To Life UK is also relieved the bills have been withdrawn.

Speaking on behalf of Right to Life, Catherine Robinson commented that the amendment allowing abortion for any reason up until birth "would have left England and Wales with one of the most extreme abortion laws in the world."

Catholic Bishops and more than 800 medical professionals had urged the MP who introduced the abortion until birth proposal to withdraw her amendment.

"Your proposal to allow abortion up to birth in this country would be to attack the heart of the medical profession: our core duty to protect life whenever and wherever possible," the medical professionals said.

On Tuesday, a woman with Down's syndrome took a challenge to the current abortion law to the High Court in London.

The law as it stands permits the late termination of pregnancy if a "severe abnormality" is found,

The woman, Heidi Crowter, says the law discriminates against foetuses with Down's Syndrome and the 24-week limit on abortions should apply to all babies.

On Wednesday, the Vatican's "foreign minister" that the Holy See rejects the assertion in a report adopted by the European Parliament that abortion is a "human right."

Archbishop Paul Gallagher made the comment during a visit to Portugal's capital, Lisbon.

Source

• The Tablet
• CNA
• Image: Don't Screen Us Out

But if his mother had listened to the advice of health professionals when her prenatal test for genetic disorders came back positive 25 years ago, Bill would have been terminated. Read more

I should pause to mention that, before this happened, I was feeling particularly holy. Continue reading

"Here at the United Nations (UN) there is much sincere talk and normally passionate action to fight against unjust discrimination," said Archbishop Bernardito Auza, Vatican nuncio to the United Nations.

He pointed to a double standard when he appeared before a UN panel last week.

"But as firm as these commitments are in principle, many delegations, UN agencies and active members of civil society tolerate gross violations of these commitments in practice."

He noted groups that claim to advance the rights and equality of vulnerable women and girls are "notably silent when pre-genetic screening followed by sex-selection abortion ends the lives of those they claim to defend,"

After pointing out the inconsistency of this approach, he went on to highlight the violation of those prenatally diagnosed with Down's syndrome.

Although the Convention on the Rights of Persons With Disabilities agrees to promote, protect and ensure the full and equal enjoyment of all human rights, including that of the right to life by all persons with disabilities, the Convention is often is not implemented in practice.

"… many members of the international community stand on the sidelines as the vast majority of those diagnosed with Trisomy 21 (Down's syndrome) have their lives ended before they're even born," Auza said.

He cited a 2011 study published in the American Journal of Medical Genetics by Harvard University researchers.

The researchers found most people with Down's syndrome are happy with their lives and most parents love and are happy with their offspring who have Down's syndrome. Only four percent "regret having their child," he said.

Source

• The Catholic Register
• LifeSite
• The Tablet
• Image: Mundodastribos.com

Sam, who had Down syndrome, became an altar server in 2002 and also regularly welcomed parishioners to weekly services, as a host at the door.

On March 1, he died at Chalmers rest home after a short illness, with his parents and brother by his side. Continue reading

Ardern has responded by saying abortions up to 40 weeks would not be made legal under Labour.

Despite this, Saving Downs created a social media post using Labour's campaign slogan (Let's do this), Labour's logo, and Labour's leader.

The graphic says: "Abortion up to birth for babies with disabilities", followed by the slogan "Let's do this".

A Labour Party spokesman said the party had contacted Saving Downs head Mike Sullivan, asking him to remove the post that contained the false claim alongside Labour branding.

The party had contacted Facebook and Twitter asking them to remove the posts.

Under the Contraception, Sterilisation and Abortion Act there is currently a gestational time limit of 20-weeks for abortion for disability.

But Saving Down's said that in the handful of jurisdictions that have decriminalised abortion - China, Vietnam, Canada and two states in Australia - gestational time limits for disability-selective abortions have been removed. Abortion for babies with disabilities is available right up to birth.

Saving Down's say Ardern's proposed change to the law could also see New Zealand fall foul of international disability rights obligations.

This is because the UN Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities has consistently criticised countries that provide for abortion in a way which discriminates on the basis of disability.

"That is not what I've said. What I've said is currently abortion is in the Crimes Act. It shouldn't be in the Crimes Act," Ardern said on Wednesday.

"Yes we need to have regulation and proper practice and standards around this area of our health law but it should not be contained in the Crimes Act.

"There will be some elements that some members of parliament have no issue with, including it being removed from the Crimes Act, there may be other elements that they do," she said.

"We'll make sure we draft a bill that enables members to vote on the bits that they do take no issue with versus the ones that they don't but I do need to do that work in office."

Source

• Scoop
• Stuff
• Yahoo News
• Saving Downs Syndrome

Jill Jefferies and James Dobinson, who both have Down syndrome, married on Saturday before about 100 well-wishers, family and friends. The couple had busked at the Lyttelton Farmers Market to raise money for the wedding, with Dobinson playing keyboard while Jefferies danced. Continue reading

Rimsha Masih is the first minor to be charged with blasphemy in Pakistan. The charge carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. Witnesses claim she burnt 10 pages of a booklet used to learn basic Arabic and the Qur'an.

Continue reading

Continue reading

In 2008 the Bioethics Council (now disbanded) carried out extensive consultation with New Zealanders on the question of prenatal testing. Among the findings released in its report to Government the Council members highlighted the pressure many couples experience upon receiving their test results to make very rapid decisions.

"All too often, whether overtly or covertly, termination of pregnancy is presented as the automatic option after a test result indicating a disorder. As a result parents feel pressure to terminate children with Down syndrome and other disabilities".

Right to Life New Zealand and a group of parents of children with Down syndrome are taking the New Zealand Government to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in an attempt to stop early screening for Down syndrome during pregnancy.

Right to life spokesman Mr Orr told TV3 that the screening programme is "a search and destroy program which targets and discriminates against babies with Down syndrome".

In a society where disability is feared, certain groups of persons, such as those with Down syndrome, require additional protections in order to uphold their right to life, says John Kleinsman, Director of the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre - The Nathaniel Centre.

"This pressure comes at a time when couples are already extremely vulnerable," says Mr Kleinsman. "It is of great concern that couples speak of encountering pressure from the health system to terminate a pregnancy on the basis of genetic test results".

"In this environment it will become increasingly difficult for couples to exercise a choice not to be tested or to continue with a pregnancy in the light of test results indicating a disorder. Our role, as parents, is to welcome our children in an unconditional way - this is what love demands".

John Kleinsman is the Director of the New Zealand Catholic Bioethics Centre - The Nathaniel Centre.

Source

• New Zealand Catholic Bishops' Conference
• Image: UNSW Embryology