<p id=”par-1_27″>YouTuber Jesse Ridgway and his wife Ashley are getting death threats after he opened up about their decision to terminate her pregnancy following a <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/found-shanola-hampton-gabi-search-missing-woman-down-syndrome-exclusive-clip.html/”>Down syndrome</a> diagnosis. </p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-youtuber-mcjuggernuggets-and-his-wife-make-difficult-decision-about-baby”>YouTuber McJuggerNuggets and his wife make ‘difficult decision’ about baby</h2>
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<p id=”par-2_49″>In late March, Ridgway, a 33-year-old content creator also known as McJuggerNuggets, announced that he and Ashley were expecting their first child. In late April, he shared that they’d had genetic testing done, which revealed that there was a “95% chance [the baby would] be born with Down Syndrome.” </p>
<p id=”par-3_9″>Ultimately, Jesse and Ashley decided to abort her pregnancy.</p>
<p id=”par-4_43″>“This week, my wife and I made the very difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy due to Trisomy 21,” Jesse wrote on <a href=”https://www.youtube.com/post/UgkxDpIsOvcod8l2pVPbU-BaRG3uPxcx0-dP” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>social media</a> on June 3. (Trisomy 21 is a chromosomal abnormality that causes Down syndrome.) “The choice was not made lightly.”</p>
<p id=”par-5_85″>He went on to say that he’d researched the impacts that a Down syndrome diagnosis can have on both the person with the condition and their family, as well as the increased risk of <a href=”https://www.cheatsheet.com/news/sister-wives-christine-browns-near-death-experience-recounted-season-1.html/”>miscarriage for the mother</a>. He also said that’d he’d learned that up to 90% of people who learn their baby has Trisomy 21 decide to terminate. (A 2025 study published in the <a href=”https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC12357076/” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Journal of Genetic Counseling</a> found that nearly 80% of people who receive a Trisomy 21 diagnosis opt for termination.)</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-jesse-ridgway-reports-death-threats-and-vitriol-after-sharing-decision-to-terminate”>Jesse Ridgway reports death threats and ‘vitriol’ after sharing decision to terminate</h2>
<p id=”par-6_75″>Backlash to Jesse’s announcement was swift. His <a href=”https://www.instagram.com/mcjuggernuggets/?hl=en” target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Instagram</a> posts were flooded with comments condemning the couple’s choice, including many from relatives of people with Down syndrome. Some said the pair were “definitely not cut out for parenthood.” Others noted that Jesse and Ashley had decided not to put down their <a href=”https://www.instagram.com/p/DYQL0sWj4k-/?hl=en&img_index=1″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>dog with severe kidney disease</a>, which they said was proof they valued their the life of their pet more than that of their unborn child. </p>
<p id=”par-7_43″>The National Down Syndrome Society, which supports individuals with Down syndrome, hasn’t directly commented on announcement. But on Friday, the organization shared a post on <a href=”https://www.instagram.com/p/DZN49YPjdMR/?img_index=1″ target=”_blank” rel=”noreferrer noopener”>Instagram</a> noting that the majority of parents “reported experiencing negative bias about Down syndrome” when receiving a diagnosis. </p>
<p id=”par-8_6″>Jesse was stunned by the response. </p>
<p id=”par-9_37″>“I’ve never seen such hate and vitriol for two people grieving the loss of their unborn child and making an impossibly decision,” he wrote in the first of a series of lengthy posts on his Instagram Story.</p>
<p id=”par-10_22″>The messages he’d received showed “a side of humanity that is deeply disturbing,” adding that he’d been flooded with “NON-STOP DEATH THREATS.”</p>
<h2 class=”wp-block-heading” id=”h-ridgway-explains-why-he-decided-to-share-the-story”>Ridgway explains why he decided to share the story</h2>
<p id=”par-11_47″>Jesse went on to stress that ending the pregnancy was his and his wife’s choice, and that he respected that other would (and have) chosen differently for their families. But he argued that aborting a baby with Down syndrome was far more common than many people realized. </p>
<p id=”par-12_52″>“The reason this blew up is quite simple: IT’S BECAUSE NOBODY TALKS ABOUT IT … That’s exactly why I wanted to share this story. People need to see the vulnerability and hear the raw truth,” he wrote. “There is real suffering going on and it is being done in silence and fear.”</p>
<p id=”par-13_52″>“Hopefully our story has inspired others to open up more and we can all find understanding,” he added. “At the end of the day, I’m grateful the discourse about our decision has spread so wide, it’s clearly a very important and sensitive topic, one that we need to pay more attention to.”</p>
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