Friday 19 September 2008

The Cost of Eliminating Down's Syndrome

Aborting children with Down's Syndrome will not raise an eyebrow in some crowds.  Hell, some might condemn anyone who would choose to bring these little monsters into the world.  But the cost of perfecting humanity may cost a few "normal" children.  Eugenics is a messy affair and always has been.   According to The Telegraph:

baby-scan Two healthy babies are miscarried for every three Down's Syndrome babies that are detected and prevented from being born, research has suggested.

The losses are down to the invasive methods used to test for the condition, which affects approximately one in every 1,000 babies conceived, the researchers claim.

They also cast doubt on the advice and risk assessment given to the 6,000 women each year who are offered screening and subsequent testing to assess the health of their unborn baby.

If an expectant mother is deemed to be at risk of carrying a Down's baby following a blood test, she will then go on to undergo an amniocentesis and chorionic villus sampling (CVS) test, which involves inserting a fine needle through the abdomen to either withdraw amniotic fluid or take a tissue sample.

The NHS cites a miscarriage rate of between one and two per cent following the tests, but the researchers, from the charity Down's Syndrome Education International, point out that only the number of Down's babies terminated, miscarried or born are recorded, not the number of healthy babies lost.

Creating liberal utopias will always cost innocent lives.  It's hard work and occasionally someone will get in the way.

1 comment:

kkollwitz said...

Hey, I read this myself and couldn't believe it. Speaking of Down's, I thought this recent article touched on some intersting ideas:
http://www.firstthings.com/article.php3?id_article=6367&var_recherche=syndrome:

excerpt:

"I began to reconsider my own theological presuppositions. And I wondered—Was Down syndrome a product of cosmic disorder? What did it mean for Penny, extra chromosome and all, to be created in the image of God? Could Down syndrome have existed in the Garden of Eden? Would Penny have Down syndrome in heaven? In other words, was Down syndrome a part of God’s good creation, or was it evidence of creation gone awry?"