This article by a woman who had an abortion because her unborn child had Down syndrome is upsetting. I don’t want to visit the abortion debate right now, but it does strike me as odd that the same liberals who would jump all over you if you don’t use the current politically correct term for somebody with Down syndrome (whether it’s retarded, mentally handicapped, mentally challenged, etc.) will defend a woman for aborting a baby simply because of his handicap. (The baby was a boy in this case, so that’s why I used a male pronoun).
Whether you are personally pro-life or pro-choice, it is worth thinking about the moral issues that this raises. As we learn more about genetics and our screening technology improves, will women begin to abort unborn babies because they are blind, deaf, dumb or short? How will civil rights leaders–traditionally allies of abortion rights groups–come out on this? Will we see odd alliances between social conservatives and gay rights groups, should women begin to abort fetuses that are genetically predisposed toward homosexuality? These are issues that younger Americans may have to grapple with within our lifetimes.
Will women chose to abort their babies if they have defects? You bet many will and many already have. Doctors will not hestitate to recommend abortions when screenings reveal problems, and many women are of course taking those recommendations.
The future? As we learn more about how our DNA maps into physical characteristics, and DNA screening of the fetus becomes commonplace, we can expect women to be selective about the children they choose to bear and the ones they don’t. In the process humans will make choices that will significantly alter the mean characteristics of populations, not unlike the intentional breeding of livestock.
Brave New World!