Almost on cue, there were three different news stories about abortion and Down syndrome around the time of the encyclical\u2019s release. New blood screening, for instance, has resulted in a 34 percent increase in such abortions in Britain. Just a few days later, a Washington Post guest columnist argued such routine and systematic screening \u201d\u201d not least because between 67 percent and 92 percent end up aborting \u201d\u201d constitutes the formal \u201celimination of a group of people quite happy being themselves\u201d\u009d under \u201cthe false pretense of women\u2019s rights.\u201d\u009d And then there was the story of the truly despicable company stealing the image of a child with Down syndrome for their Orwellian-sounding test kit named \u201cTranquility.\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n
You couldn\u2019t ask for a more revealing practice of the throwaway culture Pope Francis so strongly decries. It doesn\u2019t matter that people with Down syndrome are happier than those who are \u201cnormal;\u201d\u009d our consumer culture\u2019s tendency is to turn everything into a mere object or tool of the market, and when the object or tool is no longer useful, we simply discard it. These children don\u2019t meet the quality-control standards of the consumer, and so the product simply gets thrown out as so much trash.<\/p>\n
But one of the central themes of Pope Francis\u2019s encyclical is that all creation has value independent of its value within a consumer culture. In response to my sharing the three stories mentioned above on social media, an old friend sent me a touching e-mail (parts of which are shared here with permission) about her sister with Down syndrome. She remembers that her family was initially sad and worried \u201d\u201d but now, looking back, \u201cit truly made no sense….\u201d\u009d<\/p>\n