Life Saving Legislation

Pennsylvania passes the Down Syndrome Information Act

By Mark Leach

Chloe Kondrich prays as Pennsylvania Gov. Tom Corbett signs “Chloe’s Law” (used with permission of Kurt Kondrich)

Last week, Pennsylvania joined the growing number of states passing the Down Syndrome Information Act.
In 2012, Massachusetts passed the law. In 2013, Kentucky passed it. And, then, this year, Maryland, Delaware, Louisiana, and now Pennsylvania have passed their versions of the Down Syndrome Information Act.

In Pennsylvania, the Act is referred to as “Chloe’s Law,” after the daughter of Kurt Kondrich, the advocate who steered the legislation through to passage.
Campbell North reported on the law’s passage in the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Dr. Kishore Vellody, medical director of the Down Syndrome Center at Children’s Hospital of Pittsburgh of UPMC, is featured in the article:

“Published data shows that less than half of people felt like their training was accurate in communicating prenatal diagnosis,” he said. “Even in my med school textbooks, a lot of things we learned about Down syndrome was inaccurate because it takes so long to have them updated.”
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“Our goal in medicine is to make sure people receive balanced and accurate information when they make decisions about health care,” Dr. Vellody said. “That’s why we support endeavors to help expectant parents.”
Mark Bradford, executive director of the Lejeune Foundation USA, attended the bill signing with his son. His organization has an excellent write up of the law’s enactment, with helpful links and a photo gallery of the bill signing.

My thanks to Mark for mentioning my assistance at the start of the process. Already this week I’ve been contacted by advocates in two states wanting to get the law passed in their home states. The bipartisan support and overwhelming vote margins passing this Act show that the Down Syndrome Information Act can be passed in any state.

Editor’s note. This appeared at downsyndromeprenataltesting.com.

Source: NRLC News