Following up on Bethany's last post and link...
The other day the New York Times had a story on a less risky prenatal test for Down Syndrome. This is very welcome news because it is safer for the mother, which is something to be thankful for! However, prenatal genetic screening raises thorny but important ethical questions. While genetic screening can help prospective parents prepare psychologically and otherwise to welcome a child with special needs, it is important to remember that no prenatal test for Down Syndrome provides any cure for Down Syndrome. Rather, such tests dramatically increase the odds that the child with Down Syndrome will not be born. So while I'm glad and thankful that this test is safer, I think we also need to keep in mind that this test turns out to be very risky for the Down Syndrome child.
In some ways, our journey towards adopting a child with Down Syndrome began with our own ethical considerations of prenatal genetic screening. When the abortion rate for a DS diagnosis is around 80-90%, we should be concerned about the values and messages our culture is giving and receiving about the value of people with disabilities in general, and the value of people with Down Syndrome in particular.
The other day the New York Times had a story on a less risky prenatal test for Down Syndrome. This is very welcome news because it is safer for the mother, which is something to be thankful for! However, prenatal genetic screening raises thorny but important ethical questions. While genetic screening can help prospective parents prepare psychologically and otherwise to welcome a child with special needs, it is important to remember that no prenatal test for Down Syndrome provides any cure for Down Syndrome. Rather, such tests dramatically increase the odds that the child with Down Syndrome will not be born. So while I'm glad and thankful that this test is safer, I think we also need to keep in mind that this test turns out to be very risky for the Down Syndrome child.
In some ways, our journey towards adopting a child with Down Syndrome began with our own ethical considerations of prenatal genetic screening. When the abortion rate for a DS diagnosis is around 80-90%, we should be concerned about the values and messages our culture is giving and receiving about the value of people with disabilities in general, and the value of people with Down Syndrome in particular.
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