Child with Down syndrome (Pexels)
(THE FEDERALIST) – On Thursday, after a long legal battle, the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) struck a blow against free speech and dignity for people with disabilities by failing to rule in favor of a French Down syndrome advocacy organization. The court found inadmissible a petition from Fondation Jérôme Lejeune, France’s leading organization for Down’s syndrome research and care, which claimed the French state television’s 2016 decision to ban one of its messages constituted unjust censorship.
The message, a television adaptation of the video “Dear Future Mom,” offers encouragement to a mother expecting a baby with Down syndrome. Several individuals with the condition share some of the fulfilling moments in their lives. It ends with them embracing their mothers. The group’s goal with the video was to dispel misconceptions about people with Down syndrome.
Such an innocuous goal caused it to run afoul of the French Broadcasting Council, however. The broadcasting authority called the production “disturbing” to the consciences of some women and claimed it was not “a message of general interest.”
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