At the end of last week, the cybersphere was ablaze over a viral post from a social media influencer discussing his and his wife’s decision to “terminate” their pregnancy because they received a potential Down Syndrome diagnosis. And in the fallout, while many have criticized the decision for its blatant disregard for life, the real discussion needs to perhaps focus not on the grotesque act itself but the societal structure that allowed it to happen in the first place.
Jesse Ridgway, aka McJuggerNuggets, is a content creator primarily on YouTube with over 4 million subscribers. On June 3, Ridgway posted a lengthy explanation for why he and his wife Ashley made the “very difficult decision” to abort their baby around five months into the pregnancy because they received Trisomy 21, or Down Syndrome, indicators after prenatal genetic screenings.
“I didn’t realize just how rough it is for the child, let alone the family…more often than not, they would be fully dependent on others for the rest of their life,” he wrote. “We spoke with doctors, friends, family, and genetic counselors and learned that up to 90% of women terminate their pregnancy after learning the baby has Trisomy 21. This was WAY higher than I expected, I thought it would be lower given that I hear so many say they kept or would keep the baby. I believe that’s because most terminations happen privately, it feels shameful. A lot of judgement being cast.”
“As for us, we made a difficult decision that we believe in the long run will be beneficial for our family. Thankfully, we had a choice… Love you guys & thank you for understanding,” he concluded.
