Jesse Ridgway And Ashley Terminate Pregnancy After Trisomy 21 Diagnosis, Death Threats Follow

YouTuber Jesse Ridgway and his wife, Ashley, said they terminated her pregnancy after a test revealed Trisomy 21, a form of Down syndrome.

Ridgway, 33, wrote on X that “This choice was not made lightly,” adding that “We made a difficult decision that we believe in the long-run will be beneficial for our family.”

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The New York Times reported the post was viewed 22.1 million times and that death threats followed, with Ridgway saying “We are not able to hide from it.”

The Los Angeles Times said the couple shared the diagnosis after an amniocentesis during a gender reveal video, when they spotted preliminary markers for Trisomy 21 on the same report.

The Mirror US said Ridgway posted the decision on Wednesday, June 3, and that Ashley’s abortion took place Monday, June 1.

Ridgway told The New York Times that the controversy had spread across social platforms and that “It’s on every social platform, and it’s gotten so big that people from my high school are reaching out.”

The New York Times also said the House speaker, Mike Johnson, called the couple’s decision “evil.”

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In response to the backlash, Ridgway told The Los Angeles Times that sharing the diagnosis online happened accidentally, saying “We were filming and ready to celebrate with our audience and we were blindsided.”

The Mirror US reported Ridgway said his and Ashley’s DMs were flooded with “validating” supportive messages, but he also revealed they received a “tremendous amount of death threats. People saying we're murderers.”

Ridgway’s posts and interviews framed the decision as difficult but tied it to what he said he did not fully understand about Down syndrome, writing “This week, my wife and I made the very difficult decision to terminate the pregnancy due to Trisomy 21,” and adding the choice “was not made lightly.”

“Jesse Ridgway and Ashley Ridgway are standing by their action”

E! News

Newsweek reported that conservative commentator Matt Walsh called the post “the most evil thing I’ve ever read on this platform,” while conservative journalist Megan Basham described it as “horrific,” saying it suggested people with Down syndrome are “not worth living.”

The E! News account quoted Ridgway saying, “I’ve never seen such hate and vitriol for two people grieving the loss of their unborn child and making an impossible decision,” and he also wrote that “IT’S BECAUSE NOBODY TALKS ABOUT IT.”

The Los Angeles Times said Ridgway told the paper he was hopeful that sharing the experience may help other couples feel less alone, quoting him: “I think if we share this, it will have a net positive for other people.”