First and foremost, you're a great mom. Maybelle is lucky to have you. I don't think that Maybelle's intellectual disability is what makes you a great mom ... you would be that on your own anyway, extra chromosome or not.

In regard to the book you are writing, "The Good Mother: Confronting Impossible Choices and Changing the Game", I'm curious as to why you would choose the cliche word "good" when in a previous paragraph you talk about "good girl" being a category that distorts people. Wouldn't the term "good mother" also be another distortion? And if other mothers out their made different choices than you would that automatically made them "bad"?

You mention that with early prenatal testing more women will terminate their pregnancies. Is this speculation on your part? I recently attended a continuing education seminar conducted by two parents of children with Down syndrome (Ds), with two additional guest speakers who were also parents of children with Ds. ALL four were pro-prenatal testing for trisomy 21. One parent had every possible test she could have at the time -- before non-invasive prenatal testing (NIPT) was available and chose to give birth anyway; she stated that she was so glad she was prepared. The only male speaker at the lecture who was a physician didn't go through much prenatal testing at the time because his wife was not of advanced maternal age and never imagined they could have such a diagnosis having had two previous children with a normal number of chromosomes. The doctor said that he wished that NIPT had been available or the very least they had done more prenatal testing; he made it very clear that in no way would it have been done to terminate, but that he could have prepared himself more for the diagnosis of trisomy 21 (Ds). He said he wasted so much time in the first year of his daughter's life grieving and adjusting to the Ds diagnosis instead of being present and accepting.

You have made a blanket statement that "we" don't know what Ds is like. That's a huge leap to make the assumption for everyone. You also suggest that "we" see it as something to be eradicated. Another we. Not everyone is on board with your "we". Many women choose willingly every day to give birth and occasionally adopt a baby with Ds -- they certainly aren't in the "we" you write about.

Many scientists are working to study trisomy 21 because it is a chromosomal aberration -- a deviation from the norm with many gene-linked problems to include Alzheimer's. Another assumption you make is that Ds enriches the world ... sometimes yes, sometimes no -- most anything can have a positive spin if you take the time to look. People can take a cancer diagnosis and say that it enriched their lives ... some women can take a past experience of a brutal rape and say that too enriched their life.

Another blanket assumption you make is that our understanding of intellectual disability is skewed ... this assumption is skewed.

You say that you're a huge supporter of reproductive rights ... but it only seems to be to a degree as long at it's "your" abortion on your terms. When you say you don't want to suggest that women who terminate their pregnancies are making the "wrong" choice ... you actually make an excellent job implying that it's wrong by simply writing this statement. Why write this?

And as far as abortions for Ds, the 60-90% termination rate is incorrect. The termination rate is 67% for those women who do test -- this leaves a whole group of women willing and wanting to raise children with Ds. There is no extinction of Ds coming ... at least in the sense of case-by-case abortion. Research and future applied science technologies is a completely different story. And honestly, who wouldn't want to give their child a baseline of 46 chromosome chance at life? The only reasons that abortions occur with those pregnancies diagnosed with trisomy 21 is the full array of potential and known multi-disabilities that can entail with variable cognitive, social and behavioral developments -- making it a personal life decision for the woman making the choice of termination. The women who do chose to terminate for trisomy 21 don't think you should have made the same decision; they believe that the choice is individual based on knowledge of what Ds diagnosis brings, the current life circumstances of the family, other siblings with developmental and/or cognitive delays, personal health of the woman and her partner, mental health of the woman, current AND future support system, financial stability, and the age of the woman at the time of prenatal diagnosis to name a few decision factors. Hmmm ... this sounds a lot like other reasons that women choose to have an abortion.

You question the ability to make an abortion based on the chromosomal "extraness" ... and you ask how does one make the choice to terminate and on what basis. The choice to terminate and on what basis is the same as other abortions -- the mother considers the life of the child, her life and circumstances at that point in time deciding it's not the best choice (see above).

The Star Trek analogy compares fiction to real life. I don't make decisions based on TV shows and theoretical possibilities from cinematic dramas to make my own real life personal decisions. The use of a predominantly male based Star Trek to compare real life painstaking decisions is a huge demeaning slap to women who have make the heartbreaking choice to end a much-wanted pregnancy. When I chose termination for my trisomy 21 pregnancy I considered reality.

In considering disability as a form of human diversity ... disability will always be present in some form or another so there is no real argument that this diversity will always exist. There are millions of people with various disabilities to different degrees throughout the world and people will continue to accommodate and improve situations for those with disabilities -- this is an ongoing practice that won't end. You also encourage us to consider that our existing systems are broken -- we've been considering this since the inception of the US by the founding fathers -- it's what our country was founded upon. This is not something that isn't being considered.

You say that your daughter is valuable just exactly as she is -- there is no argument to this. You are her mom. You will always love her no matter what. You say that Maybelle is helping you to begin to imagine and create a different kind of world ... I say, no, YOU are helping you. Maybelle is being Maybelle.