Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Yo!Chingo]

With the advancement of genetic testing certain moral dilemas come to the forefront. Among those dilemas is the fact that 90% of families when presented with a Down Syndrome diagnosis before the birth of their child chose to abort the fetus. This New York Times article was a great read on the topic.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/us/09down.html?pagewanted=1&_r=1

If you were given the diagnosis while pregnant or your significant other found out that she was carrying a Down Syndrom baby, would you carry it to term?

This question is a no brainer to some and real moral dilema to others. I believe in the power of science and that it should be used to diagnose certain genetic diseases especially those that bring so much pain and hardship to the families they afflict. If I were to find out that a child that I was carrying had the disease I would terminate it. No hesitation.

[Gopher]

I think that would be a terrible reason to abort a pregnancy. But I would not involve myself in your decision-making either.

You did ask, however.

[Big_Bird]

I think if you knew more about down syndrome people, you might hesitate. My biggest fear would be who would look after my disabled child when I died. Other than that, I believe that having a child with downs can be quite a positive experience. And I once saw a documentary with a swedish downs teenager. In an experiment, she'd been allowed to go to an ordinary school. She's actually done OK. She explained that she could do everything...it just took her a little longer than others. I thought that was pretty cool. There are different degrees of down though - some can be severe. But downs people are very loving and affectionate.

[Octavius Hite]

Abort, if not for medical science and modern "morals" that baby (assuming it survived the pregnancy) would be left to die on the side of a mountain 500 years ago.

Or for you book nuts out there:

Its god's will that the baby die, if He (sic) wanted him to survive He wouldn't have given him down syndrome.

[Yo!Chingo]

[mindmetoo]

If you do not believe life begins at conception, then I see no ethical dilemma with removing tissue that has a good chance of being problematic.

[thebum]

i wouldn't. then again, i don't want to procreate. i'd rather adopt.

[jinju]

[daskalos]

I'm pro-choice. I wish the choice to abort were made less often, because I have seen some of the emotional after-effects of it, but that is not my call.

Which for me has to mean that whatever reason a woman/couple chooses to abort a child isn't really my business.

For this specific stipulation, that of knowing you're carrying a Downs child, the parents would need to undertake a very honest self-evaluation. Many disabled children have been born into families that did not have the emotional strength and intestinal fortitude to deal with what life raising a disabled child means.

It's hard raising a child, even one that doesn't need more than all the others. If you know in your soul you don't have it in you to give that child the attention and loving care it needs, abort it.

I recognize, though, that this leads to certain kind of "eugenics." What if, after all, we do locate a gay gene that is detectable in the womb? Or an angry gene? A frivolous gene? A bad teeth gene? To say nothing of the looming crisis in China, where the one-child policy means the criterion for aborting is a matter of mere gender?

I don't know. I support people who know that they aren't evolved enough to love a Downs child in their decision to abort; I don't support it for their sake, though, but for the sake of that potential, unloved, poorly-provided-for child. Better not to have lived than to have to live in that Hell.

Where does this selection end? How different is it from the ancient practice of exposing defective infants on the mountainside? From the Nazi exterminations of the disabled? I don't know. Any thoughts?

[vanland]

I am never a fan of abortion. I personally believe their is a living being from conception. It is a very difficult situation for anyone.

I have worked with intellecutally disabled people for over 12 years, particularly with Down Syndrome people. Prior to entering the disability field I would see these people in the street and feel great sorrow and pity for them. Now, after working with them for so long, I don't have that view. In my country, and I imagine in most western countries, these people live a good quality of life.
We tend to judge their quality of life based upon our worldview, but they are usually born that way (at least for Down Syndrome), though some other disabilitys are post birth. They go through life with a different worldview and expections than we do.
Generally speaking, their highs are genuine highs for them (maybe boring to us though), but if they are happy, then fine.
Generally speaking, I have found Down Syndrome people to have great humour and are very fun people to be with, I have only encountered a few difficult ones in all my time.

Their life will be different. Nearly always they will not marry and not live an independant life, but the services are good, they include home assistance, community access, recreational lifestyle, no stressing over the pressures we encounter with day to day life. But as I said, they are going through life with quite a different worldviw than I.

Parenting is another whole issue. I would struggle through 8 hours sometimes at work, parenting is a great challenge, but its so important to make use of facilities and services provided. There are plenty in my country and probably yours also.

My choice is not based upon disability, but rather, conscience. To abort, I feel I am ending a life. Just because I don't see the baby and hold it, doesn't mean its not alive. That is the overiding issue for me. I can't condemn others for being different because I have not had to deal with such a difficult decision personally.

[riverboy]

I'm not one to judge people for thier private lives. However...
[/quote]Abort, if not for medical science and modern "morals" that baby (assuming it survived the pregnancy) would be left to die on the side of a mountain 500 years ago.

[Gopher]

[mindmetoo]

[Gopher]

[mindmetoo]