He was horrifed by the idea such people should be aborted, considering it anti-scientific.With their slightly slanting eyes, their little nose in a round face and their unfinished features, trisomic children are more child-like than other children. All children have short hands and short fingers ; theirs are shorter. Their entire anatomy is more rounded, without any asperities or stiffness. Their ligaments, their muscles, are so supple that it adds a tender languor to their way of being. And this sweetness extends to their character : they are communicative and affectionate, they have a special charm which is easier to cherish than to describe.
This is not to say that Trisomy 21 is a desirable condition. It is an implacable disease which deprives the child of that most precious gift handed down to us through genetic heredity : the full power of rational thought. This combination of a tragic chromosomic error and a naturally endearing nature, immediately shows what medicine is all about : hatred of disease and love of the diseased.
We can see the reappearance of the absolute misapprehension of the wish to overcome the disease by destroying the patient ! We would need Molière to ridicule these people arguing seriously around the patient. « Who is this impertinent being who will not cure, who dares to resist our art ? Get rid of him ! » Medicine has become mad when it attacks the patient instead of fighting the disease. We must always be on the patient's side, always.Years ago he testified in a prominent New Jersey abortion case. The case was notable because it was the first time a judge had permitted expert testimony on the question of when life began, and interesting because the case involved an anti-abortion protester who interrupted the abortion not of some random woman, but of his girlfriend terminating his own child. LeJeune's testimony was deeply moving. Two of the hardest-bitten, most cynical journalists one could name were overheard discussing it and saying they felt they'd been in the presence of the Apostle Paul.
I had the privilege of hearing him lecture several times, and indeed, there was something about him: charming, kind, joyful, interested in everything, able to make the most complex scientific concepts simple. He made you marvel at wonder of creation; admire the discipline of Science and the capacity of the human mind to unravel the mysteries of the universe; and he inspired awe for the God he was deeply convinced ordered that universe.
His daughter, Clara, wrote his biography several years ago, and the foundation named for him is dedicated to curing Down Syndrome. If you read French, you can read his numerous articles and presentations here. His testimony in the famous Marysville, Tennessee frozen embryo case was collected in The Concentration Can. The media at the time asked him why the world's most prominent geneticist dropped everything to come to a small town in Tennessee. He replied:
If the judgment of Solomon, which is pronounced only once every three thousand years, occurs during your lifetime, it's worth a detour.I always thought he was the heir to another devout Catholic scientist, Louis Pasteur, and since we need more witnesses to the truth that Science and Faith are not inimical, this news made me happy. See, and you thought I could say nothing good about the French!
