FACT: Palin learned in December 2007 that her baby would be born with Down's Syndrome, a condition resulting from the presence of an extra chromosome. Palin was 43 years old when Trig was conceived, and it is well-known that pregnancies occurring when the mother is age 40 or older carry a significantly higher risk for complications and birth defects, including Down's Syndrome.
Despite Trig's diagnosis and the fact that 80% to 90% of in utero Down's Syndrome diagnoses end in termination of the pregnancy, the Palins decided to carry the pregnancy through. Trig Paxson Van Palin was born on April 18, 2008, approximately one month prior to his expected due date. After his birth, Palin stated, "Trig is beautiful and already adored by us. We knew through early testing he would face special challenges, and we feel privileged that God would entrust us with this gift and allow us unspeakable joy as he entered our lives. We have faith that every baby is created for good purpose and has potential to make this world a better place. We are truly blessed."
Trig's condition was publicized in the news media at the time of his birth.
Just prior to Trig's birth, Governor Palin was in Texas with her husband, attending a meeting of the National Governor's Association. The Anchorage Daily News reports:
Early Thursday -- she thinks it was around 4 a.m. Texas time -- she consulted with her doctor, family physician Cathy Baldwin-Johnson, who is based in the Valley and has delivered lots of babies, including Piper, Palin's 7-year-old.
Palin said she felt fine but had leaked amniotic fluid and also felt some contractions that seemed different from the false labor she had been having for months.
"I said I am going to stay for the day. I have a speech I was determined to give," Palin said. She gave the luncheon keynote address for the energy conference.
Palin kept in close contact with Baldwin-Johnson. The contractions slowed to one or two an hour, "which is not active labor," the doctor said.
"Things were already settling down when she talked to me," Baldwin-Johnson said. Palin did not ask for a medical OK to fly, the doctor said.
"I don't think it was unreasonable for her to continue to travel back," Baldwin-Johnson said.
So the Palins flew on Alaska Airlines from Dallas to Anchorage, stopping in Seattle and checking with the doctor along the way.
Liberal blogger Rogers Cadenhead questioned Palin's decision to continue attending the conference and then fly home, noting that she would have been in serious trouble if she had gone into premature labor during the 12 hour flight from Dallas to Anchorage. Based on Cadenhead's post, talk show host Alan Colmes, among others, began spreading the accusation that Trig's premature birth, and perhaps his Down's Syndrome, were caused because Sarah Palin neglected proper pre-natal care during her pregnancy. (The original post by Colmes, and discussions of it at DemocraticUnderground.com, have been deleted.)
Both Palin and her doctor claim that they kept in touch regularly after Palin's water broke, and even though some third party experts with no detailed knowledge of Palin's medical history have faulted her decisions, Palin's doctor assured reporters after the baby's birth that Palin was not in labor on the airplane and did nothing to endanger the health of her baby. "By my fifth child, I know what labor feels like," Palin told the Anchorage Daily News, and then went on to state emphatically herself that she was not in labor.
Critics have attempted to argue that Palin's busy work schedule somehow triggered her premature labor. This accusation cannot be conclusively disproved, but it is pure speculation at best. However, it is a medical fact that Down's Syndrome is a chromosomal disorder. It is impossible for a mother to "cause" Down's Syndrome.
...
