YouTuber Jesse Ridgway defends ‘badass’ wife after terminating pregnancy over Down Syndrome diagnosis

YouTuber Jesse Ridgway defended his “badass” wife, Ashley Ridgway, for terminating her pregnancy after learning their unborn child had a high chance of being born with Down syndrome.

The YouTuber, known as McJuggerNuggets online, posted a lengthy statement to his Instagram Stories on Thursday after he and his wife received “death threats” after revealing their decision.

“I’ve never seen such hate and vitriol for two people grieving the loss of their unborn child and making an impossible decision. The last 24 hours have exposed a side of humanity that is deeply disturbing. Being called ‘murderous pieces of s–t, evil, compared to Hitler’ and receiving NONSTOP DEATH THREATS,” he wrote.

Jesse continued, “What’s more troubling is a lot of these people use God or Jesus as their justification for threatening us and wanting to cast us into Hell…seems pretty hypocritical.”

He also claimed that “many of the people throwing stones don’t even have children, let alone one with a condition and most likely will never do the things they say they’re going to do.”

“There has been some heinous s—t said about my wife and I on some extremely large accounts…It baffles me that there are such trashy-ass people who have significant followings. If you can’t contribute anything meaningful to the conversation aside from insults then just don’t post.”

The 33-year-old said that it is “awesome” and “very courageous” that other parents have chosen to keep their babies with Down Syndrome, but wishes that they would “accept the differences between us when it has no actual bearing on your life.”

“There are over 1,000,000 abortions every single year for a myriad of reasons, this is happening on a DAILY BASIS and is the most common outcome for Trisomy 21, yet this one blows up and people are surprised…? The reason this blew up is quite simple: IT’S BECAUSE NOBODY TALKS ABOUT IT.

“I can’t blame people for not talking about these vulnerable experiences publicly because you see the disgusting backlash that ensues. It’s very divisive. Luckily, after 20 years on the Internet, this is part of the course for me taking on the crazies, so I’m glad I can help further the conversation. That’s exactly why I wanted to share this story,” he explained.

Jesse said that he hopes they “inspired others to open up more and we can all find understanding” and that despite all the hate, he is “grateful that the discourse about our decision has spread so wide.”

He urged others “confronted with a similar situation in the future” to reach out to him for comfort and also shared that he and Ashley will “try for a kid again in the near future.”

“Thank you to everyone who has been supportive during this difficult time and defending our choice as parents. It means more than you’ll ever know. Also, my wife is a bad-ass. Not only did she go through this trauma, but she’s dealing with all the freaks on the Internet in stride. Love you babe. Let’s look to the future!” he concluded.

Jesse and Ashley announced that they’d recently made the “difficult decision” to end the pregnancy earlier this week.

The pair, who wed in October 2025, first revealed they were expecting a child together in March.

In April, the couple shared that genetic testing showed their baby had a 95 percent chance of being born with Down Syndrome. In the statement, the internet personality explained that he was worried for the health of the unborn child, as well as Ashley’s.

Trisomy 21 is also known as Down syndrome, “a genetic condition where a person is born with an extra chromosome,” per the CDC.