On June 3, a debate about the silent genocide of unborn children with Down syndrome exploded on social media. The unlikely catalyst was an X post by YouTube influencer Jesse “McJuggerNuggets” Ridgway. For months, the Ridgways had been producing and posting news of their pregnancy for a massive online audience, including their pregnancy announcement on March 29, a gender reveal (a boy), ultrasounds, and finally, a disturbingly personal video of the grief-stricken couple finding out their baby likely had Down syndrome.
The journey culminated in Ridgway’s announcement that the couple had decided to abort the baby at twenty-one weeks. (Last year, a preemie born at twenty-one weeks in Iowa survived.) Ridgway listed the health problems his son might have suffered from—heart defects, hearing challenges, learning disabilities, decreased lifespan—and concluded: “Down syndrome isn’t a ‘blessing.’” He assured his “fans” with autism and Down syndrome that “we appreciate you,” but said that the abortion “will be beneficial for our family” and that “thankfully, we had a choice.”
The post has been viewed over 24 million times and has garnered 18,000 mostly negative comments. Many were livid at Ridgway’s openly eugenic justification for having his unborn son destroyed; hundreds posted stories, photos, and videos of their loved ones with Down syndrome, expressing their gratitude for their love, lives, and contributions. The photos put faces to society’s most endangered population—as Ridgway pointed out in his post, around 90 percent of babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are killed in the womb.
Many prominent figures responded to the post, most notably Speaker Mike Johnson. “When a culture devolves to the point of depravity where ‘influencers’ can go online and so casually dismiss the deliberate murder of their own precious child, the survival of that culture itself is at risk,” he wrote. “God have mercy on our nation as we pray and work for an end to this evil, for hearts and minds to change, and for a renewed understanding of the self-evident truths and the sanctity of all human life.”
Ridgway was stunned by the response; on June 4, he wrote a follow-up post calling the condemnations of their decision “disturbing” and evidence of “the depravity of people online,” adding that “I’ve never seen such hate and vitriol for two people grieving the loss of their unborn child and making an impossible decision.” He noted that some had reached out with support, and that he was confused as to why aborting a baby with Down syndrome, which is “the most common outcome for Trisomy 21,” was even newsworthy.
Very well put. I would, however, advise you to remove or change the Youtube links to ensure they don’t get a penny of click revenue from this garbage. The most charitable interpretation possible is that this is all ragebait – they planned it as a (very stupid) publicity stunt and they never really were pregnant in the first place. We can hope that is the case, though I doubt it. I hope they have to change their names and move to a different state or country after all this is done. And yeah, it’s telling that they’ll sit on the floor and silently cry in front of the camera in their push to destigmatize abortion but won’t show the abortionist twisting off their son’s limbs one at a time or pumping poison into their son’s heart Third Reich-style.
But I do have a bone to pick with the broader pro-life movement. Most pro-life advocates adhere to the Second Victim Doctrine, which says that the mother is always a secondary victim of the abortionist and should never be criminally liable. Certainly, there are a lot of women that get abortions because they were coerced or acted under incomplete/false information given to them by the abortion clinic. But there are also a lot of women that know full well they are ending the lives of their children and either do not need help or refuse any offers of assistance. They’re why abortion needs to be illegal in the first place – changing hearts and minds will do nothing to save these children, nor will pregnancy resource centres (as important as their work is) . They kill their babies simply because they’re inconvenient and they can get away with it.
And here, there are no mitigating factors at all. This isn’t some scared little 16 year-old whose boyfriend bolted on her with parents on the verge of kicking her out because she got knocked up. This is a married, upper middle-class couple that acknowledged they were having a baby, and hired a doctor to end the life of their son (well into the second trimester) because he may have disabilities or complex medical needs (even though almost everyone with with the condition is happy with their lives). And they shamelessly broadcasted it on social media. This abortion had only one victim – the little boy that was either ripped to shreds or stabbed in the heart. I see no moral reason why both parents shouldn’t face a permanent prison sentence. Certainly, there are compelling pragmatic reasons (both politically and in terms of securing a successful conviction) why pro-life legislation at this time should exempt the woman from criminal penalties (something the AHA whackos ignore when they rail against any pro-life legislation that doesn’t mandate capital punishment for everyone that has an abortion). But the endgame for pro-life laws is that prosecution for the woman should be on the table, just as it is in other countries that have banned some or all abortions. The idea that women can’t be prosecuted because they’re always a victim denies them moral agency and is an insult to the actual victims.
Also, one correction: in America, it is not necessarily true that 90 percent of babies with Down syndrome are aborted. It might be the case in more abortion-friendly locales (and certainly in countries like Iceland), but it varies considerably based on region and there has never been a nationwide survey on aborting babies with Down syndrome.
Obviously he wanted clicks (which he profits from), and presumably he imagined he’d get lots of affirmative comments – but by going public he grotesquely insulted and endangered others with Down Syndrome (in addition to the horror of the abortion itself)
Very well put. I would, however, advise you to remove or change the Youtube links to ensure they don’t get a penny of click revenue from this garbage. The most charitable interpretation possible is that this is all ragebait – they planned it as a (very stupid) publicity stunt and they never really were pregnant in the first place. We can hope that is the case, though I doubt it. I hope they have to change their names and move to a different state or country after all this is done. And yeah, it’s telling that they’ll sit on the floor and silently cry in front of the camera in their push to destigmatize abortion but won’t show the abortionist twisting off their son’s limbs one at a time or pumping poison into their son’s heart Third Reich-style.
But I do have a bone to pick with the broader pro-life movement. Most pro-life advocates adhere to the Second Victim Doctrine, which says that the mother is always a secondary victim of the abortionist and should never be criminally liable. Certainly, there are a lot of women that get abortions because they were coerced or acted under incomplete/false information given to them by the abortion clinic. But there are also a lot of women that know full well they are ending the lives of their children and either do not need help or refuse any offers of assistance. They’re why abortion needs to be illegal in the first place – changing hearts and minds will do nothing to save these children, nor will pregnancy resource centres (as important as their work is) . They kill their babies simply because they’re inconvenient and they can get away with it.
And here, there are no mitigating factors at all. This isn’t some scared little 16 year-old whose boyfriend bolted on her with parents on the verge of kicking her out because she got knocked up. This is a married, upper middle-class couple that acknowledged they were having a baby, and hired a doctor to end the life of their son (well into the second trimester) because he may have disabilities or complex medical needs (even though almost everyone with with the condition is happy with their lives). And they shamelessly broadcasted it on social media. This abortion had only one victim – the little boy that was either ripped to shreds or stabbed in the heart. I see no moral reason why both parents shouldn’t face a permanent prison sentence. Certainly, there are compelling pragmatic reasons (both politically and in terms of securing a successful conviction) why pro-life legislation at this time should exempt the woman from criminal penalties (something the AHA whackos ignore when they rail against any pro-life legislation that doesn’t mandate capital punishment for everyone that has an abortion). But the endgame for pro-life laws is that prosecution for the woman should be on the table, just as it is in other countries that have banned some or all abortions. The idea that women can’t be prosecuted because they’re always a victim denies them moral agency and is an insult to the actual victims.
Also, one correction: in America, it is not necessarily true that 90 percent of babies with Down syndrome are aborted. It might be the case in more abortion-friendly locales (and certainly in countries like Iceland), but it varies considerably based on region and there has never been a nationwide survey on aborting babies with Down syndrome.
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2012/mar/08/mike-dewine/mike-dewine-says-90-percent-down-syndrome-pregnanc/
Obviously he wanted clicks (which he profits from), and presumably he imagined he’d get lots of affirmative comments – but by going public he grotesquely insulted and endangered others with Down Syndrome (in addition to the horror of the abortion itself)