Carrie Link

SLIPPERY SLOPE

I have friends, that I'd really like to keep, on each end of the abortion issue. I would like to bring up a question that I am hoping does not further alienate each other, but just makes us think...

Let's say you have become pregnant by choice, perhaps even at great expense. You take an amnio., and there are several positive markers for Down's Syndrome. Your doctor, and many others, advise you to abort. You do. Welcome to America. You are amongst the vast majority that agrees with you. 95% of all babies that test positive for Down's are aborted. Only 5% of all Americans faced with this issue decide that this is a child they would like to raise, that this is something that they can handle, that this is a human worth bringing into the world, that this person, no matter their intelligence, no matter their life span, no matter their capabilities, this person is of value.

Perhaps if I had "normal" children, although we prefer "typically developing", I might not feel so strongly about this issue. What concerns me most is the precedent. With further advances in testing, eventually we may be able to determine which children show markers for schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, alcoholism, and the list goes on and on. At what point does it end? At what point do we, using the same scenario, decide to remain pregnant, no matter what? What makes a baby, a child, a human, "OK"?