Poll: Would you abort a pregnancy if the child would have Down Syndrome?

[Arcanite Ripper]

Boy, am I at a loss of words here.

Controversial disagreements with cold-blooded genetic improvement stances, biasly empathetic mercy-killing stances, universally entitled of human rights stances, limitations of normality stances (justified by the first I mentioned), sarcastic observations of governmental wellcare stances, and self-mortality upkeep stances (Which kind of, but doesn't really answer the point the OP was trying to make) aren't really my strong suits to justify and pick an opinion.

Oh well, i'll give it a go anyway.

OT: I stared at my unpublished post for ten minutes, and I still can't decide. All I can really say is I wonder what the variable of what my personal life status would be at that time. If I had the child planned in advance I imagine i'd be foresighted enough to have the resources to take care of him, but where would the specific gap of resources maintained would be to take care of a down-syndromed child? I guess i'll never truly know unless I undertake the situation.

If I had a seven-digited income with this planning of a slightly-damaged child (by that last statement you can tell i'm not an expert on such things), I would be happy with whatever offspring I produce knowing that child would live in a supported world where he can still function. If he would be fully created with a mental state not even aware of his own exsistance, I....wouldn't know. If he can't take care of himself, he'd be no more then a pet. With that support however, he would still be happy...

Universally speaking, all of this can be decided on what a human life means to you, or how would it mean more. Are your parents just progressive tools of your well-being, or your loving mother-and-father? Do you see your friends as the people who care about you, or people who have invoked blind-faith of your feelings that you can use to your own advantage? You should have to answer those or similar questions with the people you know close to get a sense on the morality here.

As for me...I would take care if I can. Despite of what other's can think, true love is still a noteable thing to help you enjoy yourself.

 

[Amy Latta]

Who here can say that life has been easy for them? If it has been, then you have a lot to learn. Have you ever struggled with a subject in school that you needed to pass in order to get your diploma? Life is hard for everyone; get over it.

As for the people who say that they don't think a fetus is a life, then you need to look at some basic biological facts:

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/prenatal-care/PR00112

Let me break that down in case you're lazy like me:

By week 5, the mom has just received a positive pregnancy test. By week 6, the baby already has a heart pumping blood and a neural system for brain functions. By week 7, the brain is functional and the baby already has a face. By week 8, the baby has fingers, ears, and is starting to move. By week 9, the arms and legs are growing longer and he's moving more. And so on.

So how do you define human? We're lucky enough to be given life and it's not for us to judge the quality of theirs. I haven't actually known anyone with Down Syndrome, but The Ringer is a great movie. Go watch it. I'm sorry if I rambled a bit; this thread just made me upset.

 

[RhombusHatesYou]

The better question is why didn't you stop the mother when she was reaching for the wine bottle?

I suspect i may have been ninja'd, so apologies if you've heard this already, but Down's Syndrome isn't caused by mothers drinking alcohol.

Ah, you know... down's syndrome, foetal alcohol syndrome, harlequin ichthyosis, hypertrichosis... it's all the same.

 

[Nazz3]

I dunno.

If the pregnancy is really early and if my wife / girlfriend would approve, then yes.

The child probably wouldnt have that great life anyway.

 

[Jezzascmezza]

Nice cheery topic you've got here.
I may sound like a cold heartless person, but I'd say yes.
I wouldn't want my child to have that sort of difficulty in his/her life.

 

[ESCAPIST DELETE THIS ACCOUNT]

We all die someday so id say yes and save them the suffering.

 

[Rack]

I voted yes. Cold I know, but by having this child I'd be denying the lives of two healthy children I would otherwise have been able to support.

 

[updraftnoir19and99]

Wow, there are so many people saying yes it's kind of unnerving.

I'd say no. Because 1. I know what its like to live with a mentally handicapped person and yes its hard, but adaptation is a wonderful thing. Go read Welcome to Holland, its what a friend gave my mother when my brother was diagnosed. And 2. I am pro-choice, but I'm not sure its something I could go through with myself. Its something that can only really be answered by people who have been there, done that etc.

Also, I once had a go at someone who was making snide comments about a mentally handicapped person going on a rollercoaster. They were pissed that this person didn't have to queue up for as long and they wouldn't even know the difference anyway. If you don't give mentally handicapped people the chance to feel anything, then they won't. You can't just say they won't and leave it at that.

I'm aware people who don't have a lot of first hand experience with the mentally handicapped jumping to say yes to aborting them in utero, but I think that's because they're scared of change or difference. As people have already said, thats why we have racism and homophobia because people don't understand it. I think the people who said yes instantly for this reason should maybe spend time with a Down's person, then they can have an informed opinion. In my own opinion, Down's people are some of the sunnyiest, happiest, least complicated people in the world, and I feel positive after chatting with them.

So, no. I wouldn't abort my child for having Down's, because it isn't baby's fault. That's my opinion, may it please ya.

 

[amucha98]

.

 

[Guest_Star]

Yes. I would go for an abortion.

It has nothing with whether or not mongos are ppl and have a right to be born, it's purely for selfish reasons.
I'm not prepared to care for a six year old the for the next 50 or so years.

Hmm... 76% for abortion?
That's pretty close to most polls I've seen regarding this. It's usually around 70-80% for westernerns.
While religious ppl are the most vocal against abortion, in real life they have almost the same abortion rate when it comes to Down's as most others (if they are aware that there is someting wrong with the fetus).
Farmers (regardless of abortion-stance and religion) are apparantly the group the least likely to take an abortion when it comes to fetal irregularities according to one survey I've seen.

If I can wrestle up the sources for this, I will provide it. In the mean time, take what I've written with some grains of salt.

 

[JediMB]

I want to say yes, but honestly I don't know how I'd feel about it at that time.

 

[JoshGod]

yes. quality of life. didnt even read the OP.

 

[Wardnath]

After reading all 9 pages in this thread, I think the OP should really change the thread title to "Poll: Would you abort a pregnancy if the child would have severe enough Down Syndrome?", or at the very least, reword the original post.

When it comes to conditions such as autism, Down's and cerebral palsy, among others, there will be people who get them worse than others. Some will become people fully capable of contributing to society, others will be so severely crippled that they can barely feed themselves, never mind a normal life.

A good example: Well, I've met someone in TAFE who had, to some degree, cerebral palsy. Good man, too, very good person to talk to.

I and my little brother both have ASD (the one that's not registered on here). I like to think I turned out somewhat okay (if only too conscientious), but my brother...err, well. >_>

A bad example.... well, you've all seen those people on TV. >_>

Now then, onto the topic: I think I'd ask for the child's life prospects first, then decide.

 

[i7omahawki]

I've a feeling I'd abort, and I shall explain.

To me a fetus isn't technically human yet, as soon as it is born, however, it is. I feel that this is so because a fetus isn't yet engaged with other people, meaning that there is no particular difference between the cell when conceived and when it is almost ready to be born. Other than pain, that is.

I think I rate species other than human as working primarily on the pleasure principle, they all seek pleasure and avoid pain, and rightly so.

With humans it is different, however, we have pleasure and pain too, but we also have good and bad. Good and bad are rarely the same values across individual humans, but we still have that scale. What this means then, is that we can endure pain, if it leads to the good. And we will avoid pleasure if we know that it is bad.

So, while a fetus (and possibly a Down Syndrome sufferer) only work on the pleasure and pain scale, us humans can work on the good/bad scale, meaning we can take initiative for those that can't. While we must bare in mind the pain the animal/fetus will suffer, we should be aiming towards goodness.

So it seems that I don't think a DS sufferer can live a good or bad life, per se, but can live a painful or pleasureable one. Since I'm not sure I would be able to keep pursuing 'goodness' while maintaining their pleasure, and keeping them from pain, I would have to go for abort.

 

[silver wolf009]

No, I have no right to take anyones life. No one really does. I could not kill anything or deny a life to anyone.

 

[RowdyRodimus]

My mothers littlebrother has down syndrome, and he goes to this school sometimes where they make amazing things, such as animals out of wood, paintings etc (they're very good, contrary to what one might think if one didn't see it)

Spoiler: One of the handicapped who lives on the school drew me this

And it's interesting how a lot of people who don't really know someone with down syndrome perceive them.

I think I would abort it, and I picked that option on the poll, but now that I've thought about it, I'm not really sure, actually.

EDIT:

In my own opinion, Down's people are some of the sunnyiest, happiest, least complicated people in the world, and I feel positive after chatting with them.

Also, this.

That picture is awesome! Isn't it just, sweet (hope I don't lose my man card for that), when any child takes the time to do something like that for you, let alone a special needs child.

My aunt is a special needs teacher so she has all different types in her class. One day they were having "Super Hero Day" and she asked them all who their favorite super hero was. She gave me the list to find some pictures for them to color or paint, well instead of finding just normal pics, I drew each character individually on cardstock and then inked them in (loose enough that they had plenty to color in) and took them up to the school dressed in my Batman costume I had at the time (before my stroke when I was in shape lol). A few of the kids were scared of the costume, but when I took off the cowl and let them try it on they all felt at ease and dug being Batman for a bit.

All the kids loved the pictures and I stayed with them a while telling them stories I remembered from comics while they colored. Later that night my aunt comes by with a folder about half an inch thick and when I looked inside every one of her kids had drawn me a picture of their favorite character. I told her she didn't have to have them do that and she told me one of the girls drew one for "Batman" and all the others followed her lead.

 

[BlindTom]

My daughter has downs. I wish we had aborted.

 

[Trivun]

I voted 'No' in the poll, but thinking on it I have to change that to 'Yes'. And I realise this may seem like I'm a heartless, evil human being, but I'm not. The thing is, a baby born with Down's Syndrome is going to have a very tough life, and possibly suffer loads throughout their life,and I wouldn't wish that on my child, or indeed on anyone. I'm not saying we should euthanize all Down's Syndrome sufferers, because that's even more cruel and wrong. But if you know your child is going to be born with some sort of deficiency that will make their life more difficult, or that will cause them suffering, then surely it's kinder to avoid them being able to suffer like that, even if abortion is the only way to do so?

Of course, I would consult the mother as well, obviously. I would never agree to an abortion if I hadn't discussed it and weighed up all the pros and cons with the mother first, and I would only ever agree to something like that if it was a thought-out, mutual answer from both of us.

 

[Cazza]

First thoughts no. Depends on what my partner's view is.