(LifeSiteNews) — YouTube influencer Jesse Ridgway is facing a massive backlash after he announced on X that he and his wife decided to abort their baby after the child was diagnosed with Down syndrome. Ridgway, known as the YouTuber “McJuggerNuggets,” shot to fame with video series such as “Psycho Family” and “Psycho Dad,” in which he destroyed things in a faux rage.

Ridgway stated that he and his wife researched Down syndrome and decided that it would be best for both the child and for his family if the baby was killed in the womb—and noted that over 90 percent of children diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted:

50% of babies with DS have heart defects. 75% will have hearing challenges. Over 50% will have vision problems. Impaired immune function, developmental disabilities, learning disabilities, delayed physical development, poor muscle tone, structural issues with face, decreased lifespan, etc…Sadly, the list is long, feel free to look it up…Down Syndome isn’t a “blessing”, it is objectively shitty from a health perspective. I didn’t realize just how rough it is for the child, let alone the family…more often than not, they would be fully dependent on others for the rest of their life.

“To all of my fans who have weighed in on this topic who have Autism, Down Syndrome or any other conditions…we appreciate you,” Ridgway added, despite the fact that he and his wife aborted their baby specifically because she had Down syndrome. “You matter a lot and we’re glad you’re here. I commend you and your families for having the strength and courage to push forward. As for us, we made a difficult decision that we believe in the long-run will be beneficial for our family. Thankfully, we had a choice.”

Incidentally, despite frequent health difficulties, nearly 99 percent of people with Down syndrome report being happy with their lives; 96 percent like how they look; 97 percent like who they are. When abortion activists say that abortion is an act of mercy, they don’t mean for these happy people. They mean for themselves. People with Down syndrome are, by the metrics, among the happiest people alive. Targeting them for prenatal destruction is pure ableism.

Dr. Calum Miller, a UK doctor and ethicist, responded: “I’m sorry you murdered your child because he/she didn’t pass quality control. You should be in jail.” He pointed out that Ridgway had previously celebrated the fact that his dog had managed to survive a complicated surgery and was now living without kidneys.

Author and columnist Mollie Hemingway had a similar reaction, writing: “Killing your baby because he wasn’t perfect in your eyes is so sad and dark and, yes, evil. Even if we didn’t know how wonderful people with Down syndrome are. I pray you find Jesus. Life is beautiful.”

Or as podcaster Brittany Hughes bluntly put it: “There is no way of framing this that will gain my sympathy. No poetic waxing, no begging for understanding, no tearful excuses. My heart breaks for this precious baby who was killed for the crime of having an extra chromosome by the two people who should have protected him or her with their own lives.”

Other parents shared photos and stories about their own beautiful children with Down syndrome:

To anyone reading this who might be facing a similar crossroads, meet my son Josh.

Josh is 3 and has Down Syndrome, the very condition shared about here in this post. We received a prenatal diagnosis at roughly 10 weeks. Some of the complications we feared happened, but that… pic.twitter.com/F67GJpy48G

— Dave Bruno (@DBrunoMedia) June 4, 2026

Andrew Daub wrote: “Iron Will is asleep right now. So I’m going to kiss his beautiful little forehead and quietly promise him – yet again – that I will fight to my last breath for him and every person with Down syndrome from the moment of conception forward.”

Absolutely the most diabolical, heartbreaking thing I’ve read in a very long time.

Iron Will is asleep right now. So I’m going to kiss his beautiful little forehead and quietly promise him – yet again – that I will fight to my last breath for him and every person with Down… https://t.co/0JontZNm4D pic.twitter.com/IHireWw2pg

— Andrew Daub (@TheResoluteLife) June 4, 2026

Congressional candidate Michael Alfonso took the opportunity to celebrate his niece:

No one in my family suffers from my little sister-in-law Valentina’s existence — including Valentina herself. And for the record, she had heart and ear surgery. That does not make her unworthy of life. I’ll be praying for the little soul of the child you killed. https://t.co/ab2TxWL0O9 pic.twitter.com/JYMpiwh4z1

— Michael Alfonso (@MikeAlfonsoWI) June 4, 2026

One mother simply shared a photo of her little boy who has Down syndrome:

My baby with Down Syndrome is absolutely a blessing. I’m sorry you were misinformed. pic.twitter.com/0giuq4xJUF

— naturalnursemomma (@naturalnursemom) June 4, 2026

Others posted beautiful videos of children with Down syndrome:

Down Syndrome is not an excuse to murder someone.

Every baby is a gift, and worthy of life. https://t.co/Se7cqtzOSr pic.twitter.com/XtzRTXewMu

— Jacob Falach ✡︎ (@jacobfalach1) June 4, 2026

The eugenicist columnist Richard Hanania, who writes a monthly column for Unherd, had a more insidious reaction. “Having children has made me a lot more pro-choice,” he wrote. “Taking care of children is hard. Part of the payoff is imagining them living full lives as adults. I don’t know how anyone could find the motivation to take care of them if they knew that wasn’t possible. That’s why only religious people don’t abort in these situations.”

Hanania’s worldview was described over a century ago in a book much loved by the Nazis titled The Permission to Destroy Life Unworthy of Life by Karl Binding and Albert Hoche:

There was a time, now considered barbaric, in which eliminating those who were born unfit for life, or later became so, was taken for granted. Then came the phase, continuing into the present, in which, finally, preserving every existence, no matter how worthless, stood as the highest moral value. A new age will arrive – operating with a higher morality and with great sacrifice – which will actually give up the requirements of an exaggerated humanism and overvaluation of mere existence.

Or as Adolf Hitler put it in 1928: “While nature only allows the few most healthy and resistant out of a large number of living organisms to survive in the struggle for life, people restrict the number of births and then try to keep alive what has been born, without consideration of its real value and its inner merit. Humaneness is therefore only the slave of weakness and thereby in truth the most cruel destroyer of human existence.”

Hanania may be right that we have reached a time in which only religious people value those with disabilities. Richard Dawkins famously told the mother of a preborn child with Down syndrome to “abort it and try again.” Christianity has been a bulwark of protection for the vulnerable. As it is torn down, we are seeing deadly ideologies seep into the void it has left behind like blood under a clinic door.