A YouTube influencer and his wife terminating a pregnancy at five months after learning their unborn child was carrying the Down syndrome gene has reignited the debate within the pro-life movement about whether such a situation is an exception.

In a June 3 X post, Jesse Ridgway said the choice to abort the "baby" – his words – was “not made lightly” and that he and his wife were surprised to hear from doctors, family, friends and genetic counselors that up to 90% of women terminate their pregnancy after learning the baby has the gene for Trisomy 21, the clinical name for Down syndrome.

Ridgway said he thought the statistic would be lower considering he’s heard many say they keep – or would keep – the child, when in reality, he thinks most abortions in cases of disability happen privately because parents feel shameful.

However, the Global Down Syndrome Foundation says the 90% estimate is inaccurate, as it was based on studies that combined findings from the U.S., Europe and the United Kingdom during the 1990s.

 "The numbers do not represent the attitudes of the U.S. population then or today," the group said.

A more targeted review of only U.S. data estimates that termination rates following a Down syndrome prenatal diagnosis from 1995 to 2011 are at roughly 67%.

“Down Syndome [sic] isn’t a ‘blessing.' It is objectively shi***y from a health perspective,” Ridgway said in the post. “I didn’t realize just how rough it is for the child, let alone the family.”

A December 2025 BMJ Paediatrics Open study exploring the direct and indirect costs of caring for children with Down syndrome found that families undergo additional medical, education and rehabilitation expenses, resulting in "financial burden."

For example, in the U.S. the cost associated with prescription drug claims for children with Down syndrome was roughly six times higher than for children who did have the genetic condition.

When initially learning of the condition, Ridgway said he was “shocked but optimistic” and that he and his wife would “make it work” if the child was a bit intellectually slow. However, he then said he didn’t fully understand what Down syndrome entailed until doing more research.

The couple ultimately reached the decision after learning of heightened risks of miscarriage, as well as a greater likelihood of the child having issues with heart, hearing, vision, immune function, physical development, learning, a shortened life span and more.

Pro-life activist, speaker and author Ryan Bomberger told Just the News that he questions the situation as a whole because Ridgway "makes a living off of clickbait.” He said it could be another of Ridgway's “reality but fake” series — which he added would make the situation “even more sickening.”

Ridgway has a penchant for attention and is waging an “impressive” PR campaign, Bomberger also said. He sees the situation as the couple victimizing themselves when “the only real victim here is the unborn child who was destroyed simply because he or she could potentially be disabled.”

As someone who was adopted after being conceived in rape, considered an “exception case” and who has siblings with physical disabilities, Bomberger thinks the situation is problematic.

“It’s hard for me to wrap my mind around a mentality that says someone has to be normal or perfect in order to live,” he said. “To see a group of precious human beings so easily discarded like that is hard.”

When asked about the plausibility of doctors recommending abortion to the Ridgways, Bomberger thinks there’s too much pressure on parents by medical professionals to abort their children in situations of fetal anomalies or possible disabilities instead of offering life-affirming alternatives and resources.

“Immediately pushing abortion on people who come up against unexpected circumstances, I think shows weakness in our society, not strength,” Bomberger told Just the News, noting that he grew up in an environment with families who had adopted disabled children – including his own.

The Ridgways reside in Elmer, New Jersey, where abortion is legalized with expanded access and recognized as a “fundamental right.”

Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson condemned the Ridgways’ decision, declaring in a June 5 X post that “when a culture devolves to the point of depravity where ‘influencers’ can go online and so casually dismiss the deliberate murder of their own precious child, the survival of that culture itself is at risk.”

Former Planned Parenthood clinic Director Abby Johnson, now a pro-life activist, also commented, bringing up what she sees as hypocrisy with the couple terminating the pregnancy but saving their dog with stage 4 kidney cancer.

“Your baby was brutally and torturously murdered in his mother’s womb…[sic] the place that should have been the safest,” she said in an X post.

The response on social media to the Ridgways' decision was essentially unanimous against it. However, one person responded to a CBN News story on the matter by writing: "Not everyone has the ability to care for a child with special needs." 

Ridgway concluded the X post saying that it will take “a little time to move on,” but that he and his wife will try again in the future and hope for a “better outcome.”

Katherine Pugh is a reporter for Just the News. Follow her on X for more coverage.