Reading Time: <\/span> 3<\/span> minutes<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n YouTuber Jesse Ridgway and his wife, Ashley, made a difficult decision.<\/p>\n At first, they were overjoyed to share their pregnancy news.<\/p>\n However, genetic testing revealed that their potential child would have been born with Down syndrome.<\/p>\n The Ridgways opted to terminate the pregnancy. Now they\u2019re getting death threats.<\/p>\n When the Ridgways \u2014 who constantly film themselves through the ups and downs of their lives, making themselves successful YouTubers \u2014 first learned that their potential child might have Down syndrome, they thought that it was a fluke.<\/p>\n The genetic testing company that they\u2019d used had returned false positives to some patients, losing a lawsuit over the matter. They\u2019d hoped that they were among them. They were not.<\/p>\n \u201cThis week, my wife and I made the very difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy due to Trisomy 21,\u201d Ridgway shared on his Instagram Story.<\/p>\n Trisomy 21 is the most formal name for the genetic abnormality. As the name suggests, the twenty-first chromosome exists in triplicate rather than as a duo. This causes a cascade of differences.<\/p>\n Generally speaking, people with Down syndrome have subtly different facial features, low muscle tone, and may experience developmental delays in certain academic areas. Some <\/em>children with Down syndrome must undergo open-heart surgery as newborn infants, or do not live long enough to go home.<\/p>\n![\"Ashley](\"https:\/\/cdn.thehollywoodgossip.com\/uploads\/2026\/06\/0605_jesseridgway_01_ashleyridgway-1024x576.png\")
The Ridgways chose to end the pregnancy<\/h2>\n