Mikayla Holmgren made history recently by becoming the first woman with Down syndrome to compete in the Miss Minnesota USA pageant. The contest is part of the Miss Universe organization. During the evening she was given the Miss Minnesota USA Spirit Award and the Director’s Award. The audience gave her standing ovations as she accepted each. One of the pageant organizers said to Mikayla, “You make people smile every time you talk, cheer, smile and dance.” During an interview, she cracked up her parents by saying, “Yeah, I have a little Down syndrome on the side.” We live in a society that celebrates people with Down syndrome—that is, if they first escape the womb; because nearly seventy percent are aborted when diagnosed during pregnancy.
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