A bill endorsed by an Indiana legislator would prohibit abortions based on fetal disabilities such as Down syndrome.
Bill sponsor Sen. Travis Holdman, R-Markle, said that fetuses identified as having disabilities deserve a chance at life.
"Many of these folks have productive adult lives," he said in a legislative session last week. "I think we need to have a policy of life rather than a policy of extermination," Holman continued, calling it a "slippery slope" to allow such abortions.
Mary O'Callaghan, whose child has Down syndrome, said that the proposed bill would also be encouraging for families with special needs children.
"Banning abortion due to disability sends a clear message to mothers that their child's disability is not a death sentence," she said.
Opponents of the bill criticised the supposed imposition on a woman's right to choose, however.
Ball State University English professor Victoria Barrett recounted aborting a fetus with a chromosomal disorder, and later conceiving and delivering a healthy baby boy named Finn.
"If state law had forced me to carry my dying daughter until she fell apart in my womb, to deliver that destroyed body as I delivered my Finn, I would never have risked another pregnancy," she insisted.
"It would have ruined me and it would have ruined my family."
The committee voted 7-4 to advance the bill, and the Senate could vote on it this week. The bill would also prohibit abortions based on gender.
