In France, young people with Down syndrome caused a video to be banned from French airwaves. What horrible thing had they done? They had smiled on camera. They were obviously happy and so were their mothers. They were shown on camera explaining the many ways in which their lives were happy and rewarding.
Apparently, their smiles might “disturb the conscience” of women who had aborted babies with Down syndrome, might lead them to think that they had perhaps made a bad choice. The French media culture frowns upon not only “disturbing” a woman about a past abortion, but also attempting to influence her in any way up front as she decides whether or not to terminate her child’s life.
The video was made to encourage women who had just received a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. The information given to a woman at that time is generally negative and would tend to make her think that abortion is the only realistic decision. The parents of such children, who have discovered that “information” to be largely false, wanted to cast a realistic light on how wonderful children with Down syndrome, like any other children, can be. Hence the title “Dear Future Mom.”
If you would like to see the wonderful, encouraging video “Dear Future Mom,” go to https://youtu.be/Ju-q4OnBtNU (Warning: Two-hanky alert!)