Hallie Levine, with her daughter, Johanna (Photo: Courtesy of Hallie Levine)

In a Yahoo news article published on Wednesday, a mother whose 7-year-old daughter has Down syndrome said she would have aborted her child if she had known the child had the genetic condition and called a proposed law in Ohio banning the abortion of these babies “appalling.”

“Ohio is poised to become the second state in this country to ban abortion because of a fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome this fall,” Hallie Levine wrote in the article. “As a pro-choice woman who has a 7-year-old daughter with Down syndrome, I find this absolutely appalling.”

Levine, who posted photos of herself with her daughter Johanna, said she wanted to get an amniocentesis to see if her unborn child had Down syndrome, but her doctor told her a blood test she had had a 90 percent detection rate for the condition.

“This is an issue that hits close to home for me: If I had had a prenatal diagnosis, I would have obtained an abortion,” Levine wrote, while admitting the she is “beyond grateful” to have her daughter.

“Today, I am beyond grateful that I didn’t,” Levine said. “But I cannot ever in any circumstances imagine insisting others not have that right.”

The proposed legislation in Ohio would make it illegal for a doctor to perform an abortion if a woman is seeking it because the baby is believed to have Down syndrome, according to an Aug. 22 article in the New York Times.

“Abortion opponents are pushing Ohio to make it illegal for a doctor to perform an abortion if a woman is terminating her pregnancy to avoid having a baby with Down syndrome,” the article stated. “The legislature is expected to approve the measure this fall because lawmakers endorsed by the National Right to Life Committee, which supports the bill, make up more than two-thirds of both houses.”

In 2013, North Dakota made it illegal for a doctor to perform an abortion because of fetal genetic anomalies, including Down syndrome, according to The New York Times.

The New York Times also refers to a National Institutes of Health study that shows from 1995 to 2011 between 60 and 90 percent of fetal Down syndrome diagnoses led to abortion.