A famous YouTuber announced that his wife had an abortion after the pregnancy test indicated Down syndrome. “What happened next was quite shocking”

“Because it's a controversial topic, I thought there would be criticism or differing opinions, but what followed was quite shocking,” said Jesse Ridgway, a content creator with millions of subscribers, as quoted by the New York Times, Los Angeles Times and Fox News.

A well-known American YouTuber and his wife have publicly announced that they have decided to terminate their pregnancy after a genetic test revealed the presence of a condition known as trisomy 21, a form of Down syndrome.

They soon found themselves under a barrage of criticism and even death threats for their decision.

Jesse Ridgway, who has been creating content for 20 years and has more than 4.3 million subscribers on his main YouTube channel, posted a clip on his personal channel the other day in which he appeared with his wife as they received the results of the test that detects certain genetic abnormalities, chromosomal conditions and fetal infections.

“This choice was not taken lightly,” Ridgway later wrote in a post on X, two days after his wife suffered the miscarriage.

“We have made a difficult decision, but we believe that in the long run it will be beneficial for our family,” he added.

A senior Republican politician described the decision as “evil”

Jesse told the Los Angeles Times that the initial disclosure of the diagnosis on the Internet was a fluke.

The couple was preparing to reveal LIVE, to the followers, the sex of the child, when they noticed the preliminary indicators of trisomy 21 in the same report.

“We were filming and ready to celebrate with our audience, but we were taken by surprise,” he said. “What do we tell people? How do we handle the situation? I decided to be honest, and yes, that's what led us to the last 48 hours,” he said, explaining why he also decided to announce the termination.

The X post, which has been viewed 22.1 million times, received a flurry of angry comments from parents of children with Down syndrome, abortion opponents and even House Speaker Mike Johnson, who called the couple's decision “evil”.

Ridgway and his wife said they received death threats and were compared to Hitler.

“What happened next was quite shocking”

“I posted this for my audience and then it took on a life of its own. As it's a controversial topic, I thought there would be criticism or differing opinions, but what followed was quite shocking,” he said.

“There are a million abortions every year, and I'm just shocked that one couple's decision to have an abortion because of trisomy 21 has made headlines. It happens every day, but it's just not talked about,” he added.

Jesse said the couple have also received messages of support and dozens of testimonials from strangers who have gone through the same experience.

And while the messages of support have made them feel “validated”, Jesse said the couple have received “an enormous amount of death threats. People saying we're criminals”.

What do the statistics say?

The decision of the Ridgway family, writes the New York Times, was not an unusual one.

Research shows that among pregnant women in the United States who receive this diagnosis after genetic testing, about 74 percent choose to terminate the pregnancy.

This figure is even higher in other countries, such as Iceland, where almost all of these pregnancies are terminated.

In Denmark, 99% of pregnancies are terminated, in France 77%.

Each year, about 6,000 babies are born in the United States with Down syndrome, according to the National Institutes of Health.

Some people with Down syndrome also have other medical problems, such as congenital heart defects, hearing loss, or sleep apnea.

Over the past 25 years, the average life expectancy of people with Down syndrome has doubled, from 30 to 60 years, but people with the condition still face significant health challenges.

“An absolutely wrong and offensive statement”

Some disability rights advocates welcomed the public discussion about Down syndrome generated by the post, but expressed concern that people might misunderstand what it means to live with the condition.

In his post, Ridgway wrote that 50 percent of children with Down syndrome have heart defects, 75 percent have hearing problems, and more than 50 percent have vision problems.

“Down syndrome is not a 'blessing,'” he wrote.

Disability advocates said these statistics paint a bleak and incomplete picture.

“They give the impression that 'having Down syndrome makes your life not worth living,'” said Stephanie Smith Lee, co-director of policy and advocacy at the National Down Syndrome Congress.

“It's an absolutely wrong and offensive statement,” she said.

“Proof that Americans reject eugenics”

The website of the conservative television Fox News also approached the case critically.

Public outrage over the Ridgways' decision shows that Americans are rejecting the idea that a disability makes a life less worthy of protection, Lila Rose, founder of Live Action, said Sunday, as quoted by Fox News.

Rose, whose Live Action organization opposes abortion, said the backlash was evidence that Americans “reject eugenics.”

Such decisions “target innocent human life” that “was not considered good enough”.

“That's exactly what this YouTuber did very publicly, and the outrage was huge,” she said.