- A popular YouTuber and his wife recently aborted their child who had Down syndrome. Hunter Estes says thankfully, Mississippi recognizes the basic humanity of these children and all children.
For those who are not online, the name Jesse Ridgway is likely an unfamiliar one. Recently, he and his wife rose to prominence for a tragic reason – they willingly killed their unborn child because he had Down syndrome and then defended the decision on social media.
Jesse Ridgway is a somewhat popular YouTuber with a fairly large following. For the last few months, he had been widely sharing and promoting his and his wife’s pregnancy journey to the world. This included a gender reveal, ultrasounds, and more. Thus, before birth, their baby had already entered the social media world.
Then, Jesse shared that initial screenings showed their son was likely to have Down syndrome. A few days went by, and the Ridgways shared on social media that they had chosen abortion rather than to care for their son. At over five months pregnant, they had snuffed out this poor innocent life. But what’s more, Jesse took to social media on the issue. Many people supported his decision online; many more were shocked and horrified at the blatant eugenics that he was willingly defending to the world.
“Down syndrome isn’t a ‘blessing,’” Jesse said in his post as he listed the potential health concerns his son could be faced with. Jesse said that the abortion would “be beneficial for our family” and that “thankfully, we had a choice.” He further justified their decision by noting that it was okay, because 90% of babies suspected of having Down syndrome are also ruthlessly killed.
His heartless comments have since ignited a massive digital debate about the silent mass execution of children with Down syndrome across our country and the Western world today.
The entire situation is tragic, but I was especially shocked when Jesse Ridgway actually chose to double down. He came out with another social post painting he and his wife as the real victims of this situation and attacking those who had criticized them. His flippant disregard for the life he and his wife had just snubbed was on full display. Shockingly, he even had the gall to suggest that they needed privacy to “mourn the loss of their child,” even though they were the ones who killed their child.
Without a hint of irony, the Ridgways have also been very public about spending countless dollars on their dog to fight his stage 4 kidney cancer. Now I have a dog myself, and love animals. But I cannot imagine the emotional or mental disconnect in which they would spend thousands on medical bills for their dog but couldn’t imagine a world in which they would support their own human child with Down syndrome.
The Ridgways chose to make their pregnancy and their baby a widely celebrated social media star. They catapulted their unborn son into the social media realm, and then, just as quickly, they threw him away and demanded privacy when he presented a potential inconvenience. The Ridgways were fully ready to take advantage of their baby for clicks and likes online, but the moment the realities of having a child became slightly inconvenient for their lifestyle, they were willing to get rid of him just as quickly.
Where have we come as a society that we live in a culture which so devalues human life that many of our community members would carry out or openly applaud the death of the most innocent among us?
My colleague at the Ethics and Public Policy Center, Fran Maier, himself a father of a son with Down syndrome, undeniably captured this issue best. He said there are two tragedies here in the Ridgway story: “They’ve killed their child, but they’ve also killed something in themselves because they’ve denied not just that child’s life, but all of the life that would come from it.” In taking the life of their unborn son, they’ve also taken all the joy, wonder, laughter, and happiness that that son would have brought them and every person throughout his life.
The one good thing that has come out of this terrible situation has been the mass influx of people sharing the stories of their family members and friends with Down syndrome. They’ve shared stories of love, stories of challenges, and stories of triumphs. People with Down syndrome are some of the kindest people I’ve ever met, and their limitless capacity for love and empathy should be praised and welcomed by society. We need more of this love and empathy today, not less.
Thankfully, Mississippi legislators passed a law banning abortions that are based on whether a child has Down syndrome. Furthermore, since the Dobbs decision, abortion has become essentially completely banned in the state. I’m thankful to live in a state that recognizes the basic humanity of these children and all children.
I’d like to end with this. Our family members, friends, and neighbors with Down syndrome are children of God who deserve to share in His creation just as much as any one of us. I pray for a world where abortion isn’t even conceived as a possibility, and I hope one day we can build a culture that values life and human dignity far more than any material comforts of the moment.
