(C-Fam) President Biden fired the father of a Down syndrome teen from a presidential advisory council on disabilities.
Biden is clearing federal advisory councils of all members appointed by his predecessor, Donald J. Trump, including Down syndrome advocate Kurt Kondrich, who together with his daughter Chloe has promoted bi-partisan legislation to help parents welcome children with Down syndrome.
The Kondrichs are widely recognized for their substantial work in promoting and protecting the human rights of children with Down syndrome, including Chloe’s Law, a 2014 Pennsylvania law that requires doctors to provide scientific data to expecting mothers whose unborn child may have Down syndrome.
Kurt Kondrich received an appointment to serve on the Presidential Commission for Persons with Disabilities by President Trump in November 2020 for a two-year term.
Kondrich received the demand for his resignation in a September 2 email signed by assistant to the president and director of White House personnel Catherine Russell. It asked for Kondrich’s resignation by close of business. Failing that he would be terminated at 6:00 pm.
Presidential advisory council terminations by the Biden administration are unprecedented. Previous presidents have always allowed appointees from previous administrations to carry out their terms to conclusion. The councils are non-partisan and do not have any executive power, only an advisory role.
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Kondrich is puzzled as to why President Biden would want to fire him specifically.
President Donald J. Trump Kisses Chloe Kondrich at White House Rose Garden during the 2020 March for Life
“I have always said that our disability advocacy was completely bipartisan and focused on defending and protecting people with disabilities from conception to natural death,” Kondrich told the Friday Fax. “We advocate for funding support and services that allow people with disabilities to be fully included in society in a safe environment.”
Kondrich left a 20-year career as a Pittsburgh police officer after his daughter Chloe was born with Down syndrome. Since then the father-daughter team has worked to help dispel the myths surrounding the quality of life for children with Down syndrome.
“Our world needs more people with Down syndrome”, said Kondrich. “They are kind and gentle and live happy and fulfilled lives.”
After learning that Nordic countries like Iceland and Denmark selectively abort almost all people with Down syndrome and view this favorably, Kondrich took his advocacy international speaking at the United Nations in 2017 and 2018.
“Identifying, targeting and terminating a human being who receives a prenatal Down syndrome diagnosis because they don’t meet the misguided cultural mandate for unattainable perfection represents the ultimate, extreme form of discrimination, prejudice, profiling, bigotry, intolerance, exclusion and hatred, and it is something none of us should accept or tolerate,” said Kondrich.
LifeNews.com Note: Lisa Correnti writes for the Catholic Family and Human Rights Institute. This article originally appeared in the pro-life group’s Friday Fax publication and is used with permission.
