Certainly that reality seems pertinent.

Why it’s done

Amniocentesis is done for different reasons at different stages of pregnancy…”
Mayo Clinic

(Who would be a public figure? Not me.)

Many parents have the test done without having made a decision about what to do or they want to be prepared.

Many Down’s children are whisked off to surgery to repair a heart defect. It would be less traumatic if parents could prepare.

There are lots of reasons to think Sarah Palin a bad choice for high office, but your posts reveal animosity toward her.

Then test if it is relevant to your choice.

This test is not without risk. The number we were given 4 years back, before the ultrasound screening was in place, was about 1 in 200 resulted in death. Perhaps it’s better now, don’t know. But that isn’t testing you do on a whim … if you’ve got your sense about you and aren’t willing to [needlessly] risk the child’s life.

People can snipe at her for the way she talks, her naivety about foreign affairs, her religious beliefs, and other idle gossip. But you cannot deny that she did what is good in keeping the child.

It does not make her a top ten candidate. Parents all over the world so the same every day without notoriety.

For “special needs”? Wake me up when there is a diagnosed ASC, or a Down Syndrome nomination, or even someone with a mental illness in their past openly running (paging Senator Thomas Eagleton).

>> A couple of pieces on Palin having amniocentesis

Holy crap! She actually had that done? I had assumed she would have just had the [zero risk] ultrasound looking for the gap. If you aren’t going to seriously consider abortion I don’t get why you’d have an amniocentesis done. That’s crazy, or disingenuous in hoping “something goes ‘wrong’, oops”.

But anything that brings disabilities and opportunity for awareness into a national light on such an intense level, could be considered as being included in a “top ten” list for that topic. I’m not defending Palin herself or her politics or her choice to have or not have Trig (and regardless of what her religion decrees, she still had a choice – religion doesn’t take away choice), just that her situation (working mother with new baby, new baby that has special needs) brought a lot of conversation into light about how people really feel about these situations in general – not just in special need family circles but everywhere, in every social setting, these topics were discussed (disabilities, working mothers and abortion). I do believe that it brought opportunity for awareness on a lot of fronts and a lot of people learned or changed their perceptions about disabilities, working mothers and maybe even abortion (not very sure about this last one). I really, really hate the defense behind Tropic Thunder, but it’s presence allowed me the opportunity to talk with quite a few about language, respect and rights of those living with disabilities in a way that I might not have otherwise had the chance were it not for the movie. Not liking the movie (or the person or the motives behind their stardom), doesn’t change the fact that they were national news that brought opportunity to discuss and help change perceptions and ideas about those living with disabilities and their families to people that might not ordinarily have given us that chance or opening for discussion.

The Politics of Amniocentesis from the Freakonomicsblog

Abortion, Palin’s Amniocentesis, and the ProLife View of Sex