Letter to the Editor: Government Doesn’t Understand That Abortion Versus Life Is Personal

My twin 12-year-old daughters exist because of a fateful day when their mother and I sat before a high-risk-pregnancy doctor who advised us to abort both fetuses because tests showed one fetus would likely have Down syndrome. 

My partner was stunned silent. I said, “I know this is your decision, but I don’t want to abort these babies.” She said, “I am so glad to hear you say that because I would not have anyway.”

Having lived a life that at times has put me in the public eye, I have been approached by the “pro-life” contingent. My reply has been that the existence of my daughters is personal, not a political rallying cry. 

But that is not to say that I don’t have a fight for a cause. The cause is inclusion, and the fight is the same for other parents of special-needs kids before me and those to come. We fight for our kids to be treated the same, and not recognized any differently, and it is a fight that never ends.

Readers of this may have seen or read the array of media reports on my state- and national-champion daughter Amelia’s success in gymnastics. What those readers have not seen or read are a similar array of reports on Door County special-needs girls and women, including Amelia’s twin sister, Hannah, who competes annually in the Wisconsin regionals of the national Miss Amazing Pageant. And why is that? I have my own opinion, but that, too, is personal.

Robert M. Zoschke

Sister Bay, Wisconsin