Teen with Down’s Syndrome Challenges Merkel on Live TV With Late-Term Abortion Question
German Chancellor Angela Merkel was put on the spot on Monday by a German teenager with Down’s syndrome during a live “Vote Debate” event in the northern city of Lübeck. The teenager evidently surprised Merkel with her late-term abortion question, leaving the Chancellor – who is pro-choice – a bit like a deer caught in the headlights.
“Mrs Merkel, you are a politician. You make laws. I’m an editor at a magazine for people like me who have Down Syndrome,” Cologne-native Natalie Dedreux told the Chancellor in an impassioned plea according to a translation by The Local Germany.
“Nine out of ten babies with Down Syndrome in Germany aren’t born," she continued.
"A baby with Down Syndrome can be aborted days before the birth, in what is called ‘late stage abortion.’ My colleagues and I want to know what your opinion on late stage abortion is, Mrs Merkel. Why can babies with Down Syndrome be aborted shortly before birth?”
“I don't think it's good politically. This topic is important to me,” she added.
“I don’t want to be aborted, I want to be born,” Dedreux finished, before receiving loud and sustained applause from the audience.
According to the Express, Merkel was visibly flustered and put on the spot by the unexpected question, some elements of the media noted. Merkel replied that she grew up in communist East Germany where handicapped children were given no support.
"There was no support at all, there was nothing. And this is one of the great advantages of German unity, that today you can see what you could do with support," Merkel responded.
Merkel argued that her party, the Christian Democrats (CDU), had battled for years to require that parents receive a compulsory consultation before an abortion.
“It was unbelievably difficult to win a majority for that,” she said.
“She attributed the fact that so many parents opt for abortion to people being unaware of the support that is on offer to them if their child is born with a handicap,” according to the Local Germany.
“Everyone has so much potential and every one can do something for society,” Merkel concluded.
Natalie Dedreux’s courageous comments give all of us something to reflect on. There are countless people walking the streets today who simply wouldn’t be here if they had not been given the right to life, the same right which advocates like Dedreux advocate for so wonderfully. Amazing figures like Saint Pope John Paul II, Steve Jobs and Tim Tebow all have something in common – they would never have been born had their mothers not continued a pregnancy they either did not want, or were advised to terminate. Those three people, amongst millions of others, with and without Down’s syndrome, are evidence that every single life can impact the world so tremendously, just by being permitted to exist. With your generous and sustained support, Precious Life will continue to keep abortion not only illegal but make it unthinkable.