Actress Patricia Heaton starts Twitter campaign to help Down syndrome advocacy group
4/4, 10:13a: The goal has just been reached, thanks!
4/1, 2:18p: Actress Patricia Heaton is best known for her role as Debra Barone on Everybody Loves Raymond.
But Heaton is also a rare pro-lifer in the liberal Hollywood community, currently functioning as the honorary chairperson of Feminists for Life.
Now Heaton is trying to help some of the most vulnerable to abortion, children with Down syndrome. It is estimated that 90% of babies with DS are aborted.
On March 29 Heaton threw her support behind Reece’s Rainbow, an international Down syndrome orphan ministry that provides adoption grants, advocacy, and birth family support for children with DS.
On her Facebook page Heaton wrote she will donate $10,000 to Reece’s Rainbow once it reaches 10,000 Twitter followers:
I know there can be big pitfalls to social media, but I will be forever grateful to the tweeter who alerted me to the work of Reece’s Rainbow. I clicked on a link to see the faces of those little neglected angels who have passed on, and immediately started weeping. It was so heartbreaking. Sometimes we feel helpless in the face of such horror, but because of the example of Andrea Roberts, we see that, with a lot of hard work and perseverance, there is something we can do.
Between work and family, I don’t have a lot of time. But I do have financial means and a public profile. God charges us to use our circumstances, whatever they may be, to share His love with the world. I had just hit the 10,000 mark for Twitter followers, and the idea hit me – give $10,000 dollars – one dollar for every “Tweaton” who follows Reece’s Rainbow. Accomplish supporting this great organization along with spreading awareness. So far, in a few hours, RR has about 500 new followers, and I hope many more to come.
I am involved in supporting various charitable organizations, but I have recently been asking God to show me where he wants me to be. I think Reece’s Rainbow is an answer to that prayer. These kids have had very few people to be their voice, but Andrea Roberts has changed all that. I am so grateful to be a part of her work.
I just became Reece’s Rainbow’s 6,911th Twitter follower. Hope you’ll join me.
[Heaton photo via Facebook]
Jill Stanek is a nurse turned speaker, columnist and blogger, a national figure in the effort to protect both preborn and postborn innocent human life.
LOVE this. I am so touched that Patricia Heaton is reaching out in this way. My husband and I are in the process of adopting two little girls from Ethiopia–BOTH born with Down syndrome. These children are just precious and ever-so-deserving of life in a family. My heart is so glad that the topic of orphaned children with Down syndrome is receiving so much attention!
I have friends who have adopted from Reese’s Rainbow. He is the most adorable boy. They also adopted another son with DS right after he was born and from Minnesota. So both boys are the same age but Ricky the son who was adopted from birth is much more further along in his development.
6,946!
I love her!!
Brianna,
Congratulations on your growing family!! God bless you!!
Brianna, that’s awesome!!! God bless you! :)
I´m so glad RR has a post here. The stories of these children being given a chance are beautiful and amazing.
I “discovered” Reese’s Rainbow a while back. There are such beautiful, precious children on that site! I started “following” them on Twitter as soon as Patricia tweeted about it! ;)
I always liked Patricia Heaton. Then I liked her more when I heard of her views. Now I’m to the crush stage!
She’s truly a diamond in the rough in Hollywood.
So when abortion becomes criminalized, there will be lots more Down’s kids available. Oh, happy day. Snark off, it’s difficult enough to recruit foster parents for “normal” kids let alone those with developmental disabilities. But hey, those orphanages were great. Just ask Ireland about that.
And while Down’s kids are like gentle pets, those children with autism and other disabilities on that scale aren’t so easy. Thankfully women have the choice to abort damaged fetuses. Oh, right, they should be forced to bear all fetuses cuz it’s nature’s or “god’s” way….
I have a relative who had a Down’s child and it hasn’t been easy. The parents are, thankfully, quite affluent but they still need some goverment assistance for their child who is not high functioning. When this woman became pregnant with her second child she ascertained that the fetus was “normal.” If it hadn’t been, she would have aborted. But you folks would have forced her to have that second Down’s kid. Nice…
CC
Just in case someone feels guilt because you seem seasoned when it comes to distributing it I will share my testimony not to persuade you hopefully it’s too late for your conversion.. My son not only has Downs’ but has had leukemia, hyperthyroidism, juvenile dermatomitocitis, was born with Wilsons’ Disease and is presently aside from an occasional health issue is doing fine. He’s twenty since he was ten has stopped walking three times and now not only walks but is soon going to get to go to bicycle camp. If I weren’t economically disadvantaged and could afford to have someone assist me I would have a house full of children who didn’t have homes. Yesterday he was really pale but his doctors are going to run some tests and aside from that he’s doing fine. Loves school and just to hear him laugh does my heart good. Don’t reply to my post unless you have something positive too say. People with your belief system whether your aware of it or not create an environment that makes it o.k. to put less value on people who have disabilities. When I was at my tiredest just tired I’m glad I lived in a city that put value on all life and that because of my age I knew that being tired is not the end of the world that’s why we have that thing called sleep. We wake up refreshed and keep on keeping on. I really don’t hope it’s too late for your conversion I just think it’s very very selfish of you to expect people to convince you to be pro-life when people are being killed.
“Oh, right, they should be forced to bear all fetuses cuz it’s nature’s or “god’s” way….”
No, we just think that we don’t have the right to kill innocent people. You know, society being “civilized” and based on “ethical principles” such as that “human life has value” and all that. Strange concepts in New England, I know, but try to follow along.
CC,
Ugh. Just…ugh!
I just came over to this thread after reading some eugenic elitism on another one. I thought, surely a thread about Down’s syndrome will be free and clear. Nope, here it is, more “better dead than not as I define perfect.” I’d rather have 100 more imperfect people than one more murderous crab. But it’s not up to me. I complain about the elitist’s incessant droning, saying that I think I can’t stand another sentence. Then God says, “Hey, you only put up with it for a few minutes here and there. I’ve had to listen to that for the last 62 years!”
Sorry God, I didn’t mean to insult the crabs by comparison.
How many followers on Twitter now?? :)
CC,
I almost deleted your post. But why not let the world see your words about precious children with Down Syndrome? Don’t hold back, CC. You deem them not worthy to live. They deserve death. Every last one.
Your posts make me so sad. Void of any compassion or love. They are dark and empty and angry and disgusting to me. As a special education teacher who is drawn to those with Down Syndrome I say SHAME ON YOU!!
LOVE WINS!
Downs Syndrome children are not perfect for sure but then….what child is? It is our imperfections that make us unique. I thank God everyday for that!
MK
This is the conclusion I’ve come too. We are perfect in our imperfections.
Carla
I didn’t know you thought special ed.. My daughter teaches resource. I’m glad you didn’t stop her post a lot of people really think like that until they start seeing better.If it’s o.k. sometimes I’ll just post some of the things Daniel does it kind of helps me. I try not to buy Coke or Pepsi often but sometimes I do. Anyway he lets me know he wants some Pepsi so I go and fix us each a glass. Mine makes it to the table his doesn’t. So I’m sitting down and he’s calmly pointing behind me and I’m like what man is it something on momas shoulder. No he’s pointing to his glass of Pepsi on the counter. And we both just laugh. And that dear Cici is why sometimes I get very rude with you.
“And while Down’s kids are like gentle pets…” Really CC? Like animals? Are you reincarnate from early 20th century Germany? Who else might you classify as an animal not worth having in this world? Do you even listen to what you’re saying?
“Human life is of inestimable worth and significance in all its dimensions, including the preborn, the aged, the widowed, the mentally handicapped, the unattractive, the physically challenged, and every other condition in which humanness is expressed from conception to the grave.”
God bless you, Myrtle Miller and your son!
I wonder if CC would have told my sister to abort my nephew Sam. No, he doesn’t have Downs. He was born with a Cleft Lip/Palate, which is something that is easily fixable by surgery. In fact, I donated money to an organization that provides surgery in developing countries for children born with the same “defect”. (Smile Train). He had surgery when he was small and you can’t really tell he had a cleft lip/palate. The only issue he has now is focusing in school sometimes. He’ll be TEN years old at the end of this month.
Downs syndrome children are some of the sweetest children around. I am glad Patricia Heaton is supporting this organization that helps these precious children be adopted.
God Bless you Brianna! That is so awesome…two little girls to bring joy to your family. And God Bless you, too, Myrtle for your love for your son.
Can someone help me out? I need help finding a quote…its about the night hitler was born…another child was born that night….a child with Downs…..I want to find it….since there was something about how the Downs syndrome child cared for her parents maybe it was just the mother….until the day her mother died….
Total pet peeve of mine.
We say child with Down Syndrome. Always putting the child first.
Sorry. Had a professor that drilled that into our heads. We don’t say wheelchair people or Muscular Dystrophy child……….
Carry on.
Myrtle,
God bless you and your boy!! I am a SAHM for now. We shall see if I head back to teaching. :)
CC, proof you are the zealot here.
“Don’t hold back, CC. You deem them not worthy to live. They deserve death. Every last one”
Where, exactly, did I say that, Carla? Methinks you’re doing a bit of “projection” on what you assume that I and my fellow pro-lifers are thinking. And in this case, it’s not true. My point is that children with handicaps are not easy to deal with. Down’s kids are actually quite lovely and are, on the continuom of disabilities, probably the easiest to care for. But once again, it should be the decision of she who carries the fetus regarding whether to bring that fetus to term. In your world, all women would be forced to give birth to disabled children which means that there would be more need for specialized services in a country that, if it’s up to the GOP, will be drastically cutting back funds for these types of programs. One of the biggest areas of concern, for my friends, who have a Down’s child, is what will happen to her if something happens to them and when, inevitably, they can no longer care for her. As they are financially in good shape, I assume that they can work something out. Poorer families don’t have that option.
Whether or not they are “deemed unworthy to live” is up to the woman who carries that fetus. The important thing is that she has a choice. A disabled child has several strikes against him/her from the start. We don’t need to add the factor of being unwanted. With choice, those who truly want to commit towards raising such a child will give birth to them while those who don’t, won’t.
And yes, I admire families that cope with disabilities and I don’t shame those women who, knowing their limitations, choose to abort. It’s all about choice.
Um. You and your fellow prolifers? WHUT??
You are a proabort. You are prochoice on abortion which makes you proabortion.
90% of babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted. You are good with that? Well good then. So very good.
You are one of the poorest souls I know. One day you might be deemed “unworthy to live” CC.
And your comments about those with disabilities? You would make Margaret Sanger proud but you make me sick.
CC, the day will come when people will devalue you because of your age or possibly a disability or disease that you potentially develop later in life. Don’t be shocked when it happens, and don’t expect to be treated any better or to be valued any more highly than you have treated others. I hope that your heart will change before it is too late.
I have a different prediction, Bethany. Father Z has said that when christopher hitchens is on his death bed, the only people who will come visit him are sisters from the Missionaries of Charity, the order founded by Mother Teresa, who hitchens has mocked, spat upon, and ridiculed. I predict that if CC has a life-debilitating disease or disability, it will only be pro-lifers who treat her with intrinsic dignity and moral worth.
CC – and again – another choice is that the disabled child can be raised by others, or with the biological mother if she needs assistance. There are special families who desire to raise special-needs children, as we see here.
The choice should not include killing the child before or after birth. Letting that child live is the only moral choice. When we choose to play God, even for ‘noble’ reasons, we still put ourselves in the driver’s seat. And this choice is not about vanilla or chocolate ice cream – it’s about purposely choosing to have a human live or not – a huge, weighty choice that is not ours to rightly make (although I am sure the CC and other pro-abortion folk will disagree).
Some choices have more moral consequences, and this is totally one of those. No non-weighty matter here – just brass tacks – Do humans get the chance to live or not?
If you are part of the human family – no matter your functionality or the correctness of the timing or circumstances – you should be allowed to live.
Welcome all members of our human family. We don’t have to be perfect – we just have to be.
I agree Bobby – and I hope that others who have championed LIFE will also visit and care for CC. She is a member of our human family, and deserves to be treated with dignity.
Again – we don’t have to be perfect, but we just have to be.
Bobby, I agree wholeheartedly. Those who respect life will be the only people who would treat CC with concern or compassion in that situation. All of CC’s chosen friends and family of today would be absent from the scene.
Those are the people I was referring to in my other post. CC likely surrounds him/herself with people with the same mindset as CC.
There’s always a chance CC could have a change of heart. Hopefully it will happen soon.
CC, you say it should be the mother’s choice to bring that fetus to term.
Here’s the question you have to ask yourself, is the value of human life intrinsic or is it extrinsic? In other words, does that value exist just by being human or does it depend on someone else’s decision? If it’s extrinsic then that value can change or be taken away anytime. Your life could lose it’s value depending on someone else’s standards and how they feel, if you were ever dependent on someone else.
In your world, might means right and those who are in the majority can decide for others if there life is worth saving. How would you like for someone to decide that your life isn’t worth living without giving you any say or asking you how you feel about it? You say more disabled services means more specialized services from the government but this could also be said for senior citizens, should senior citizens be euthanized if no one is willing to take care of them, so they aren’t a burden on the government? With this kind of thinking, where does it end?
“My point is that children with handicaps are not easy to deal with.”
So…. if one is not easy to deal with, then kill them?
So…. if one is not easy to deal with, then kill them?
If that’s what the “incubator” (cuz that’s how you view women) feels, that’s her choice.
I predict that if CC has a life-debilitating disease or disability, it will only be pro-lifers who treat her with intrinsic dignity and moral worth
And I will tell them to leave me alone and allow me to end my life, voluntarily, with dignity. My body, my choice.
That’s not dignity- that’s cowardice.
” “incubator” (cuz that’s how you view women) “
It is always pro-abortionists who use these kinds of terms to label women, and treat them accordingly. I have never heard a pro-lifer call me a “breeder” or “baby machine”, however I have been called this numerous times by those who support abortion.
Irony of ironies that CC says my body, my choice. Where’s that mindset applied to unborn babies? What about their bodies, their choices? Oh I forgot: aborts don’t believe in choices for anyone but those of their views. No choice for doctors or nurses to abort, even when no life is in danger. No choice for the rest of us when it comes to paying for others’ abortions. No choice when it comes to right to bear arms. Or school choice. Or whatever.
And I have left instructions that no Catholic clergy is to allowed anywhere near me if I am gravely ill. If my friend, a pro-choice Episcoplian priest, is still around, she has every right to see me. Catholic clergy (nuns or priests) are not welcome.
“Where’s that mindset applied to unborn babies? What about their bodies, their choices”
So the rights of fetuses supercede the right of she who carries it. Gotta love the, as we say, “forced birth” movement!
I love how you ignored his other points, CC.
Gotta love the logic of as we say semi-Nazis like CC who belives rights of mothers extend to murdering their babies for any reason whatsoever, not limited to mother’s life in danger, rape, and incest.
Funny CC says she left instructions RCC clergy is not allowed anywhere near her when she is ill. I thought going anywhere near her is a choice, too. So suddenly she likes to talks about her rights and hers alone but don’t believe in choices. She is the anti-choice person, that she deems us.
Now, do I believe the clergy should be near her if she wished them not be? No. And she may have legal points. But all this talk she has about choice is really all about abortion and abortion alone. She could care less about choices of people.
Forced birth. as if there were such a thing. lol
I am imagining pro-lifers holding women down against their will, forcing them to get pregnant and then deliver babies. Laughable.
In pregnancy, childbirth happens naturally- no force necessary. The body naturally does what it is intended to do. Abortion takes force.
Of course, CC danced around the point I made: the unborn have bodies of their own, so where are their choices? All of a sudden CC does not believe in person’s body, person’s choice, but in rights of mothers to kill their babies, irregardless of babies having bodies of their own or not. Talk about moving the goalposts!
If the rule my body, my choice is the legal law of the land, in absolute sense, then rape, murder, assault, etc., would all be legalized!!! After all each of those actions involved the person doing something with his hands, feet, etc. (which means his or her body involved), even if trounced over others’ rights.
Right on, Punisher. So true!
Sorry, CC, if we go by rule of thumb, “my body, my choice,” then you can’t deny clergy to be near you since they have bodies of their own and they merely made choices to be near you.
“then you can’t deny clergy to be near you since they have bodies of their own and they merely made choices to be near you”
If a person provides instructions, regarding their end of days, these instructions are legally binding – unless, of course, you deem “living wills” invalid which, of course, allows those relatives who believe in “extraordinary means” to intervene despite a person’s legal instructions. And while the law recognizes “my body my choice,” it doesn’t recognize the “bodies” of those named in restraining orders.
I know the law, CC. Proving my point, CC. You don’t believe in your own tripe of “my body, my choice.” You use that as convenient phrase to say abortion is fundamental right you have in any given country, whether it is legal or not. So appealing to the law is disingenuous there since if abortion is made illegal again or restricted at all, you would use that phrase as somehow overruling the law. To you, my body, my choice in your mind trumps any law at all, when it comes to abortion.
But the bottom line it is a convenient phrase that lose all meaning when folks like you use it since if the phrase conflicts with you at all, then suddenly you move the goalposts and disown that phrase, then go back to it when it suits you again.
If the rule my body, my choice is the legal law of the land, in absolute sense, then rape, murder, assault, etc., would all be legalized!!!
So then I don’t have jurisdiction over any surgery that I wish to have? I had my uterus removed while it was still a baby making machine. Would you have denied me that choice? If I want to have breast augmentation, are saying that I should not be accorded that choice?
In elevating the rights of the fetus, the anti-choice movement denies the right of a woma to control what’s inside her body. And that’s why you will continue to be viewed as a strange, fetus worshipping cult by those who value civil rights for women who are “post-born.”
You use that as convenient phrase to say abortion is fundamental right you have in any given country, whether it is legal or not
It’s as much of a right as my right to personal freedom. If we have no rights over our bodies, then we have no rights at all. What a woman does with her uterus is none of your business. Not the church, not the state, only I decide my fate.
To compare murdering babies to surgeries is pathetic sick joke. Babies have bodies of their own.
And you don’t believe your own tripe of the baby is your property is disposed of as you pleased. If you really believe that, then call for repeal of all laws forcing dads to pay for child support even the ones who don’t want to have anything to do with the babies. After all it is just property of the woman and the woman alone, with no one else having a say, to make the dad pay is to force property rights unto another person or forcing another to share title and its responsibilities as well.
We affirm rights of women to do other things like breast implants and surgeries and so forth. In trying to argue that we are against women’s rights to do what she wants with her bodies by mentioning these you dishonestly try to paint as if we oppose those as well. That’s a lie, and you know it. Another proof aborts of RHRC and the like are not interested in truth.
We are opposed to abortion because it is murder. Period.
We are opposed to abortion because it’s murder.
Too bad for you that not everybody – including clergy – agrees. And while you bray about science being on your side, mainstream American scientists are not lobbying for the criminalization of abortion.
So? Not everybody- including Jews, atheists, agnostics, even liberals- agree with you as well.
And while you bray about scientists not lobbying for end of abortion, mainstream science books still say the unborn are human beings.
Just because people have knowledge the unborn are human beings, like in science books, does not mean they have the heart to do right thing with that knowledge. Pro-aborts who acknowledge humanity of the unborn but insist they deserve their deaths for being parasites are examples of this.
And not all scientists think like you as well.
Example of Jewish atheist and liberal who is prolife:
http://groups.csail.mit.edu/mac/users/rauch/nvp/consistent/indivisible.html
Funny thing when CC’s points are challenged and refuted, CC dances around the points taken apart to move on to other attacks.
Again, if you believe the unborn is your property, then why do you demand men pay for babies once they are born? After all the babies aren’t theirs no matter the dna, right? How can the babies not be theirs as much as the mother while unborn while suddenly and magically become theirs once born?
My nephew, Conor, is among the 10%. Yahoo! My sister knew that due to her age there was an increased risk of DS. She had the test so she could know and be informed. She had her faith, church and family. Though she never thought of anything but life for Conor, it is still an adjustment.
Conor’s first 5 moths were spent in the NICU. He had heart, ear and bowl surgery all before he left the hospital. His case makes current attitudes by the current head of medicare all the more frightening. Had Conor been born after full implementation of Obamacare he would have been classified as a “miscarriage” because he would be deemed not cost effective to treat.
Conor is 7 years old now. He trains in karate with his sister. He play plays baseball and basketball. He is very curious and loves to explore. And he can be just as disobedient as his sister too. He has being doing sign language since he was 2.
Cheers for the RR. It gives hope to children that the “Pro-Choice” crowd want to throw away. They have value. They have a place in society. And they are most definitely not mistakes.
“If that’s what the “incubator” (cuz that’s how you view women) feels, that’s her choice.”
Those are your words, not mine, CC. Grow up.
CC
A pregnant women is not an incubator, she is now a PARENT of a CHILD (offspring). We impose upon the pregnant women an obligation to providing her child an appropriate environment for his or her development (due to the child’s age, this is her womb), and we impose this obligation because she is the CHILD’S PARENT. Parental responsibilities start when the child is in need of its parents (conception) not when the parent decides that attending to the child’s needs fits in with their schedule.
We are not forcing a women to be an incubator but by making abortion legal we are forcing a parent to provide a suitable environment for their child. This is what we enforce upon parents anyway.
CC,
you say, the anti-choice movement wants to elevate the rights of the fetus and deny the mother the right to do what she wants with what’s in her body.
What’s in her body is a human being, to say you have the freedom to do what you want with it, is saying you have a right to control a human being, (it’s essentially slavery). You are the one who is elevating rights…to pregnant women. No one besides pregnant women have the right to conceive a child and then kill it, that’s not equality.
This thing about the fetus having special rights is non-sense, we want the fetus to have equal rights to born people, i.e. the right to life. As far as the unborn using a woman’s body, that’s not a special privelege, it’s a special situation. It’s not a matter of no one besides the unborn having the right to use someone’s body, it’s just that there is no identical situation to pregnancy I can think of where a born person would need to live in someone’s body.
I’d say if there were a scenario where a born person would be forced to rely on another person’s body to live and that other person was responsible for them being in that scenario, yes they should have a right to use that body temporarily because it’s not there fault they have to rely on that other person’s body so the solution should be one that is good for both people involved.
You say, if we have no rights over our bodies we have no rights at all,
Apparently that’s true, the unborn have no rights to THEIR bodies thus they have no right to life, without that they have no rights period. Looks like you’re starting to understand the pro-life argument.