Uh, took me two hours to read the entire topic. I'm glad I did
I voted "Depends", although I'm pro-choice. Why I voted like that? Because it
really depends on so many things that every hypothetical answer is rather arbitrary (except for a few of those people that are generally firm in their opinion, but they yet have to be in that situation). It depends on the partner (I'm female, but I'd respect the opinion of my partner although I'd probably be the one with the last word), it depends on our monetary status, our jobs, our general status, the country we live in (in my country, all disabled people are still struggling on getting around as even some hospitals tend to forget that people in wheelchairs have troubles climbing the stairs >_>), our age, problems, families and other. As I was never in such situation, I can't say anything else but "depends". However, I am against having children myself, and even if I decide to have them, I'd rather have only one. If that one child of mine should be diagnosed with a severe problem that will make me and my partner lose the quality of our desired lives (example; we have to stop travelling, going skiing every year or reduce our social life experiences), jobs (example; if one of us would have to quit their job, settle for a low payment one with lower working hours or generally give up from their carrier), spare time activities (example; stop enjoying our hobbies, reduce time we have to spend for each other) and other, I would probably be for abortion. Yes, it can be considered selfish and I do not deny that at all, but it is only my choice and if I have to choose between having a mentally and/or physically extremely disabled child and having a healthy child that will be able to go to college or have his/her own family one day, I'd choose the latter. I do not know why is that viewed in such a terrible way. I won't abort if my child has different hair colour or skin tone; we're not talking about such irrelevant things. We're talking about things that are pretty serious and every person in the world should have a right to choose whether they want a child with a Down Syndrome or the one without it, according to personal preferences. If you want a child with a Down Syndrome, I as hell surely won't stop you from having one; go on and do not abort, it's your choice and if you can handle it, go ahead. Why is there so much sensitivity towards the unborn, hypothetical children with Down Syndrome that might one day be aborted eludes me; it is not even that common and half of people who voted "yes" are probably going to have second thoughts if it happens to them (including me).
This brings me to the eugenics and Nazis (oh God), because fairly a lot of people compared aborting a DS child to one, the other or both. Comparing your own personal choice of aborting one child is in no way comparable to eugenics. Eugenics was an entire movement that wanted to make such practise accepted world-wide by
everyone. It was supposed to be
forced by the government and applied to all people, whether someone wants it personally or not. This is where the Nazis come in. They made an attempt of making eugenics legal and obligatory for all. You cannot seriously compare something that was legal, promoted by the government and forced upon all people in the state with something that is only your own personal decision which is not forced upon anyone at all. Nobody is trying to force you to abort a child which has Down Syndrome and this topic is not promoting such thing nor did anyone here said so (a few exceptions are, of course, present, but I doubt those people will end up in the government and force us all to do abortions). A doctor will inform you in order to let you choose, which is something that should be done in a free world we tend to try to live in. If you want to keep the child, the crazy Mengelesque doctor with a coat hanger will not jump on you and take the child out and then bathe in its blood. You decide to keep a child, you will keep it. Someone decides not to, they will not. And nobody in the whole wide world has a right to judge someone prior to knowing all facts about that person and why they did it. Nor does that person need to explain it to you in every and utmost detail. That is the true pro-
choice. Everybody has a choice, and we have no right questioning that choice and judging people by it (unless there are legal implications, such as a neglecting mother killing her newborn baby or getting it out with a coat hanger and throwing it in a trash can; that's the kind of choice that you should see the face of justice for).
If you decide not to work with leprous people, should Mother Theresa come to you and judge you, telling you how horrible you are and how disgusted she is? If you don't want to adopt a child, should someone who wants to come to tell that you are a horrible person? If you decide not to keep dogs as pets, should someone who does so come to tell you that you are a horrible person for hating dogs? This could go on and on. People have preferences and some people have a preference for not having a child with Down Syndrome. If you do, I don't judge you and if you want to keep that child, I don't judge you and if you have a brother/sister, cousin, aunt or uncle with a Down Syndrome, I don't judge you or them or their parents. So please, don't go on judging others who decide they don't want that. Sure, you might think their reasons are stupid or not good enough, but is that really your problem? One person's dream is another person's nightmare. There is nothing wrong, horrible or unnatural in it.
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edited for stupid typos.
