This column is insulting to women who choose to terminate for Down syndrome (as well as other disabilities) while simultaneously being insulting to those who advocate for DS awareness. Well-done there.

To compare the complex, incomparable decision of terminating a pregnancy due to a medical anomaly (what DS is) to a kitsch science fiction show with a poorly unpacked cinematic games metaphors is staggeringly wrong. Termination is not a game, nor does it serve a deeper understanding of to discuss it as one.

You've done nothing more than suggest that women who choose this route want to "eradicate." That is thinly veiled pro-life language which suggests the decision to do so was made with a single-minded purpose, uniform in its process, across a wide population of women: women who operate on "skewed" information no less.

And then to say that the game is rigged or that there's a lack of information about DS in the public is to double shame those who work with non-profits to share information, saying their work is of no consequence, has had little effect, and has had no bearing. Who exactly is rigging this game?

I terminated for t21 and while it was a sad situation, I do not regret my choice, I was not misinformed, and I can absolutely say that even with the best societal grid in place to help those with a disability, it would not have changed my choice at all. And I can say this with authority, as I myself have a disability and know what it's like to navigate through medical and social challenges. The child we terminated had a one-chamber heart. Exactly what social reality would have changed that?

In fact, it's something that you overlook...how would having a better system in place for disability change the way people select abortion? You yourself have written about your abortions, and if there were better systems in place (financial, child care, career impact), would that have changed your decision?

It's strange that you don't think that women who terminate are SCARE QUOTES AHEAD "wrong" yet the rest of the article tries to convince otherwise. You speak about changing the game, how about starting with the community you are writing about?

- What about using your position to agitate within the DS community to consider termination as a valid and equally necessary choice as carrying to term or adoption? The pamphlets given to genetic counselors have minimal information available in them, if at all, depending on the source? Termination seems to be a verboten topic in DS, why not give it equal and important measure?

- Using the same concepts of people-first language use, how about stopping any moral or judgmental language regarding termination. Why even bring up the concept of "wrong"-ness? Why throw that moral frame around it?

- Why not take a long and hard look at why you would conflate the "value" of your daughter as an extension of whether others terminate or not. How is another woman's decision to terminate in any way related to your daughter's place in this world?

You seem deeply conflicted and unsure of yourself, hence, I guess, the reliance on a tired space trope of Kirk. But I ask you to think deeply about your title. The impossible choice? Again, how insulting. And it's not impossible at all.If it were, then there would be no terminations, would there?

As you said, 60-90% of women who have a prenatal DS diagnosis do just that. Perhaps it would be better if you put away the childish Star Trek language, and think about Douglas Adams. It's an improbable choice. But one that I and many other women have made.