Would you abort a Down's Syndrome child?

[LauraG]

First, to answer the question. Yes, both for the child and the parents' sake.

I'd get rid of it, I know I'm not ready to deal with a child with that disorder. It's her choice, but I'd let her know my thoughts on it and why, but in the end, it's up to her.

Now a brief comment on this.

I think it's incredibly important for both parents to sincerely agree on whatever decision they make in this situation because if the mother chooses to keep the child while the father chooses not to, but goes with whatever the mother wants, the child is going to come into a family where there's probably going to be very unequal support and love for him or her.

Both the father and the mother will behave differently than they would with a wanted, loved child, the father negatively and the mother positively. A smothering mother and an absent father is not acombination conducive to taking a child to its full potential, whatever that may be. That's the sort of thing that destroys the child's life and the parents' relationship.

I'd say the would-be parents have a very difficult time ahead if they don't manage to agree.

[Guardsman Bass]

Yes. I think it would be far more heartbreaking to see a child with severe Down's Syndrome struggle throughout his or her life (particularly since you already know that he/she will suffer, if you can measure the severity), never truly developing into a full, healthy life, than to abort the child, particularly in the first trimester. Of course, it's my wife's decision as well, and if she decides to keep the child, I'd do my best to put away any reservations, not to mention making preparations.

[Gandalf]

If the decision were entirely on my head, I'd probably abort.

[Enforcer Talen]

Simple question. Please note:

1) Do not tell me whether you think abortion should be legal or not. This is all about what you would do if you and your spouse found out that your child was going to have Down's Syndrome, assuming that abortion is legal. It is entirely possible for someone who supports abortion rights to have a problem with the idea of aborting his or her own offspring.

2) The fetus is in the first trimester at this point.

Almost certainly.

[Kazuaki Shimazaki]

Abort. Even if my wife objects, if at all possible, I'd override her will and get it aborted. Even if this leads to our divorce.

Sure, sometimes it works out. More often, it doesn't. Somewhere in my family's phonebook, we have contact with at least two families who produced Down Syndrome babies, similar in age to me (20) to +/- 1 or 2 years. One is maxed out with the brains of a sixth-grader, and is working under some special workshop or another. The other seems to have all the brains of maybe a five-year old. The former had a mother willing to make effort to actualize what little her daughter has. The latter threw her son to a nanny who cleans up after him.

What objective reasons do we have for bringing such a baby to our world? The baby will likely have a short life where every little success is brought at an exponentially steep price. We will also pay an exponentially steep price financially and emotionally. Basically, we'd be bringing something up knowing that it will be a failure, and the only game is seeing how much of a failure it will be. What "fun"...

So that leaves subjective reasons - our own guilt, to put it simply, which is most likey driven by parental instincts laid down over billions of years of evolution. Isn't that a bit self-fish a motivation? There's also no guarantee once the "novelty" wears off, we won't just give up and throw the baby to a nanny, again to assauge our feelings of guilt while getting that baby out of our lives.

Furthermore, although I'm atheist, I do have a particular liking to the idea of reincarnation. In a reincarnation scenario, I might as well throw that soul back to the reincarnation lottery rather than let him suffer on the world for no purpose.

I know most reincarnation scenarios say that the soul probably is paying off some unknown sin in some past incarnation to get such poor assignments (they would also say we as parents are paying off some unknown sin to be getting such "shoddy" babies). But who knows, it could also be a filing error, and there are better ways to pay off sin, IMO, than being sent to a body in which you can do no amends, or forcing the parents to take care of a baby who is not real likely to do any good.

I say, abort him/her. It is better for everyone.

[nickolay1]

Most definitely.

[weemadando]

Yes. I don't think its fair to bring the child in, either on the child or on myself and Sarah.

[Xon]

There is no way in hell I would want to raise a kid with Down's Syndrome.

[wolveraptor]

I really can't think of a reason not to abort, especially in the 1st trimester. I'd even support abortions for more trivial reasons, such as not wanting to deal with any baby. At such an early stage, it's not so heart-breaking.

[Plekhanov]

Abort. Even if my wife objects, if at all possible, I'd override her will and get it aborted. Even if this leads to our divorce.

I suspect 'overriding her will & getting it aborted' would not only get you divorced but most likely imprisoned as well and rightly so.

[His Divine Shadow]

Well if she's that keen on having a child with downs then maybe she should consider the fact that she would 'abort' the relationship so to speak because I can see no way in hell that a relationship would go on after that. Plus she would be making the guy responsible for child support even though he wanted to abort it. Heck I need to bring this up with my GF, because under no circumstances would I accept that a child with any such disorder should come to term, any emotive and irrational " but it's my baaaby" thinking is not going to work, infact that kind of thinking ticks me off.

[Zadius]

Abort.

[Admiral Valdemar]

Yes. I would abort any potential child with a highly probable genetic condition this bad being manifested. Unless I could guarantee the health of the child and cover the time and energy needed to look after even a mild sufferer, I wouldn't want the kid. Having known someone with a Down's sufferer in their family, I know it can work, at a price. I, personally, would rather not have anyone suffer such a chronic ailment unless a cure was already out or in the works.

[Kitsune]

Yes. I helped a friend with a severely autistic child and cannot say that the child has any quality of life. I would cry but it would be for the best.

[Luzifer's right hand]

It would be a difficult decsision but I think I would want to aport the child.
I'm sure that I would feel horrible for a long time afterwards though.

I know that people with down sydrom can live a happy life.
My mother is a pedagogue who works at an asylum for retarded people and I visited her often there when I was younger.
The asylums I know are nice places and are supported by the goverment(Maybe it's different in countries in which the goverment does not give a shit about such people).
Most of them seem rather happy and I played with many of them when I was little.
Also man with down sysdrom lived with his family next to the farm on which I grew up and I liked him and he seemed happy most of the time.
The man lives at a asylum most of the time, however he visits his familiy quite often.

However I would support my girlfriend if she want's to get the child.

[R. U. Serious]

Basically, we'd be bringing something up knowing that it will be a failure, and the only game is seeing how much of a failure it will be.

Are you sure you intended to call humans with Down Syndrome a failure? And is that justification for preventing them to live?
Isn't this dangerously close to dividing humans into categories labeled "worth living" and "not worth living"?

The abvious question (for me) that results from the topic (and the tendency of the answers given): Where do you draw the line?

[Darth Wong]

Basically, we'd be bringing something up knowing that it will be a failure, and the only game is seeing how much of a failure it will be.

Are you sure you intended to call humans with Down Syndrome a failure? And is that justification for preventing them to live?
Isn't this dangerously close to dividing humans into categories labeled "worth living" and "not worth living"?

The abvious question (for me) that results from the topic (and the tendency of the answers given): Where do you draw the line?

That's a fair question. To be honest, I suspect that many of the "child's welfare" arguments are a bit of a self-serving smokescreen for the more selfish motive of not wanting to be chained for the rest of your life into the role of caregiver for a somewhat disabled person.

[Mr. T]

I'd have to talk it over with the mother, but I'd definitely go for the abortion option.

[Dakarne]

Are you sure you intended to call humans with Down Syndrome a failure? And is that justification for preventing them to live?

Down's Syndrome sufferers can actually lead somewhat normal lives in occaisional cases. No, it isn't justification for preventing a child to live, at all... life is life is life.

Isn't this dangerously close to dividing humans into categories labeled "worth living" and "not worth living"?

I saw a similar topic, dealing with something which directly affects me... the question was instead: "Would you abort a child with Autism?" A question which I found shocking to say the least, my autistic traits might be lessened, but even if they were serious, it doesn't mean I shouldn't have the right to live.

I was instantly drawn to no with this question, as I would be with the Down's Syndrome question.

The abvious question (for me) that results from the topic (and the tendency of the answers given): Where do you draw the line?

Good Question.

[His Divine Shadow]

No, it isn't justification for preventing a child to live, at all... life is life is life.

First trimester, there is no more human life here than there is inside a used condom or patch of mold.

I'm not drawing any lines, I'd vote to abort a perfectly healthy featus if I didn't want children at the time.

[Dakarne]

I'm not drawing any lines, I'd vote to abort a perfectly healthy featus if I didn't want children at the time.

And you're entitled to your descision... I personally wouldn't though.

[spikenigma]

going by my current situation and thoughts now, I would have to go against the grain and say no I would not abort, but I would be pretty easily swayed by my wifes/families opinions.

We would also both need to think long and hard about what kind of quality of life our child will lead in it's relatively short existance and do some heavy research into the syndrome.

incidently, going by this - it seems most people abort..

Today, Down syndrome is considered grounds for abortion in an increasing number of countries. The number of children born with Down syndrome is decreasing due to the large number of abortions following an early diagnosis of Down syndrome during pregnancy. In a hearing before the German Parliament, doctors stated that 90% of all fetuses prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted. This number is consistent with the official statistics, wherein 1500 children with Down Syndrome should, statistically, have been born per year (at a prevalence rate of 1:600), but only 63 per annum were listed in the 1995 birth register.

the article

[Maku]

Yes I would.

[Mrs Kendall]

So how would you people feel if you aborted a child who was falsley diagnosed with Downs syndrome? What if after you aborted you found out that the doctor or hospital made a mistake?

Just curious, I'm not trying to start a fight here, I'm not even sure if this can happen.

[Plekhanov]

Basically, we'd be bringing something up knowing that it will be a failure, and the only game is seeing how much of a failure it will be.

Are you sure you intended to call humans with Down Syndrome a failure?

To the extent that they will have virtually no chance of leading a non-dependent life and reproducing, which is what I want to give my kids as good a chance of doing as possible, yes they are failures.

And is that justification for preventing them to live?

It’s not a justification for killing somebody but as we’re talking first trimester whilst the foetus with downs may have homo-sapien dna it certainly isn’t yet human so this isn’t a problem.

Isn't this dangerously close to dividing humans into categories labeled "worth living" and "not worth living"?

No it isn’t because we’re talking about 1st trimester foetuses not humans, nobody here has advocated killing people with downs, there is no slippery slope here quit trying to imply one.

The abvious question (for me) that results from the topic (and the tendency of the answers given): Where do you draw the line?

Who says there has to be a predetermined line? I have neither the time nor the inclination to wade through medical text books deciding if I’d want to dedicate my life to a child with some condition or other, I’d judge each individual case on its merits should I ever be in the unfortunate position where a screening result came back as positive.

Down's Syndrome sufferers can actually lead somewhat normal lives in occaisional cases. No, it isn't justification for preventing a child to live, at all... life is life is life.

Which “child” is this? Didn’t you read the OP it quite clearly stated that this is a 1st trimester foetus