Is it wrong to have an Abortion if you find out that your baby is going to have down syndrome

Question

Because I don't....

Answer 1

Yes.  No one is perfect, every baby grows up to be a child who presents different challenges, having a baby with Down Syndrome just means you know what the challenges will be beforehand and are better able to get prepared.  Most Down Syndrome children are the sweetest, happiest children and they bring such joy to the lives they touch.  

Answer 2

that would be hard choice for any parent but the dr will tell you when the test is done that there is alot of false positives so knowing that i dont know if i could do it

Answer 3

i think it would be a tough decision for any parent to make, i'm not sure i could do it but i would completely support a woman who chose that

Answer 4

yes!!!!!!!!!!!! babies need to be let out in the world. just because it has down syndrome does not mean it is not a person like anybody else!!!!!!!!!

Answer 5

I think it is.  Too often those tests can give false positives, the baby arrives only to be perfectly healthy.  

Answer 6

tough choice because i wouldn't want my child to suffer but i wouldn't want to end their life.

i wouldn't do it though. everybody should have a chance to live..

Answer 7

Depends on the person.  Many will say it's wrong...some will say it's not, then again, others have a difference of right and wrong in certain situations.

Answer 8

That is a very personal choice. I would discuss it with your partner and some to a decision. Abortion is a big deal, and it is something you will remember for the rest of your life. But it is completely understandable why you would do it. Prepare yourself, it will be difficult.

Answer 9

I think that it's a very personal decision and each person can only know whether it's right or wrong for them. It's not a decision to be taken lightly (either keeping or aborting). I personally don't think that abortion is wrong though.

Answer 10

Short answer - No, because human life has an intrinsic value.

Long answer - I have thought about this quite a bit over the years. The wide spread of opinions is incredible, matched only by the passion of the activists on all sides. This is an issue that few people are even able to have a civilized discussion about. Complicating it further is that there are few that hold a black-and-white view of the issue. The majority of people in the US see abortion as a giant grey area with varying degrees of abortion considered acceptable. Very few people hold the position of unlimited abortion access or no abortion under any circumstances. Below is the process I went through to come up with my position on the matter.

First, I asked myself the question at what point does a human being obtain "personhood" and as such gain all the legal and moral protections that status entitles them to? There are some who say that the point of personhood is 28 days AFTER birth, at which point you still should be allowed to abort. In fact, there is a professor of ethics at Princeton University that actively advocates this position. This is the position that spurred “Born Alive” legislation that says if a woman has an abortion and the baby survives, that doctors cannot withhold care and let the baby die on the operating table. Others say up to the point of birth. These folks, such as Barak Obama, would hold that this type of infanticide as well as partial birth abortion is a reasonable procedure. Or perhaps just before while the mother is in labor. Or 6 months of gestation or 3 months or three weeks. I wrestled with this for a long time.

Then I looked at the issue a different way. Does human life have an imputed value or an intrinsic one? If we say that it is imputed, meaning the value is derived from something else, some outside criteria, then any one of the above positions would be equally valid. We as a society would decide what criteria to select. My problem with this is what criteria do you use? On what basis is a baby at 6 weeks more valuable than a baby at 5 weeks? Is a baby that has not yet developed a heart still a baby? This hit really hard on my wife and I when we lost one of our children. Lynne had a miscarriage a few years ago. When people with strong pro-choice sentiments gave us their condolences, they referred to the fetus as a child, even though she (we named her Grace, even though we do not know for sure if she was a she or a he. It made it easier to explain to the other children what happened and easier for Lynne and I to grieve our loss) was at the same gestational point, 9 weeks, that they believed abortion was merely removing some unwanted tissue of the mother. So, the criteria used is whether or not a child is wanted? If that is so, then why? The characteristics of an object of any sort are not contingent on another persons belief for perception.

By similar logic, if the value of human life is imputed, it can also be taken away, depending on what some person or group of persons believe that life is worth. So if you happen to be mentally retarded or black or Jewish, it would be perfectly reasonable for you to be killed off for the good of the community if they believe it. I have a friend who is paralyzed from the neck down and constantly in pain. There are some in the world who would look at her and say that she has no quality of life or that the money and effort to support her would be better used on others. They would have her die due to her handicap. But knowing her the way I do I find the notion that she is without a quality of life to be ridiculous on its face. She is a writer, a painter, a social worker, and heads up an international charity. I’d call that a pretty good quality of life. So would her husband who married her years after her accident put her in the wheelchair. Thus, the imputed value logic is shown to me to be completely arbitrary. Following any of the “prior to this point it is not human but at this one on it is” positions is likewise arbitrary and is not able to answer the question of personhood.

But consider the proposition that human life has an intrinsic value. That it is valuable simply because it is human life and no other reason. No measure or quantification of the value of it, it is and that is enough. It is sort of like gold. Gold is valuable because it is gold, not because we as a society stood up one day and said, “we are going to make gold valuable”. Gold has an intrinsic value as opposed to an imputed value, such as paper currency. Paper currency is worthless in and of itself. It has value only because we say it has a certain value.

This position then would support a clear line between human life and not human life. With this position, you are a human at the point that you have a unique genetic code. In other words, at conception. Prior to that, there was no “you”. The male and female reproductive components in and of themselves are not a unique genetic code, but merely parts of the donors. It is only when they combine to create new life do “you” begin to be a person.

The notion of intrinsic value also carries forward throughout life. My mother-in-law was on dialysis for several months before diabetes finally took her life. There are many who would have said that she should just die and not burden the rest of us. If those persons held the position that human life has imputed value, I can understand. I however, believe that human life is intrinsically valuable and worth preserving and protecting for as long as possible. Thus, we should protect life at the beginning and at the end and at all points in between. That is why we continued to get her to dialysis until the day she finally passed away.

So, we come full circle back to the question of abortion. Should it be outlawed? My answer, since I believe in the intrinsic value of human life, is that for the most part it should. Why only “for the most part”? Because there are times when you have to weigh the life of two humans and pick one to live and one to die. My sister-in-law faced such a problem once. She got pregnant from her husband and it turned out to be a tubal pregnancy. Had the child been allowed to grow inside of her, it would have killed her before the baby would have been able to survive on its own. Thus, in weighing these two lives, one would have to conclude that the baby would have to die in order to save the mother’s life. What about cases of rape or incest? I have 5 daughters (yes, that was no typo) and the thought of one of them being raped is always lurking in the back of my mind. Statistically speaking, at least one of them will be before they graduate from college. If one of them should get pregnant as a result, the hard decision would be to let that child live. Pregnancy is not the extremely dangerous event of the past. Rarely do people die from giving birth. Many more die as a result of complications after an abortion. But the bottom line is that the child is innocent of any crime, so why punish it? It is a human being of intrinsic value. I’m not saying it is an easy choice and I can certainly sympathize with those who have had to make it. Perhaps they even made the wrong choice. But, God is a loving and forgiving God, who can even forgive the taking of a human life. Which is what abortion is.

Answer 11

Problem is, you don't know just how great kids with DS can be and how much the do enjoy life ("suffer?" - ridiculous!) until you go ahead and have one.

Answer 12

Yes it is wrong and i think that it is best to take what god gives us and be happy

i did not even take that test till 23 weeks cause they ask if i wanted it done and i said no but finally at 23 weeks the doctor finally told me it would be better to be prepared for if the child had it i thank god that she did not have it but if she would have she would still be welcome

Answer 13

god made everyone and everything special in there own way....how would you feel if someone killed you because you were different???please dont....its absolultley wrong! best wishes..missy

Answer 14

I personally could not abort. I chose not to have the test done with my daughter and this pregnancy. It wouldn't make a difference to my husband or I if our baby has down syndrome. However, with all of that being said,everyone is different. Woman do have the right to choose, and I cannot judge someone else's choice on that. as long as it is for the right reasons and not out of laziness.

I worked w/adults who have down syndrome and the parents did struggle from time to time. They are WONDERFUL people with a lot of lust for life. I learned so much from those individuals. That is the reason I could not abort my baby if she had down syndrome.  

Answer 15

y shouldn't a life that has been created live just because its has a defect ? every living being deserves a chance ?

Answer 16

No, it's not wrong. Special needs children are less likely to be adopted, and they require a lot more time, effort and money to be raised.

If a woman decides to keep it, good on her, but she should not be judged harshly for choosing to abort.

Answer 17

Yeah It is wrong just because its going have down syndrome doesnt mean anything stop being lazy how cud u live with urself wen u know u killed sum1! ----A baby I ***** even think about that

Answer 18

That's a tough one.  I don't know what your financial situation is.  I don't know if you are married or single.  I would go to counseling and discuss your options.  I do know you should not let people guilt trip you into having the baby if you are not prepared mentally and physically.  We are in control of our own lives.  God will not be paying the bills or for the education and therapy or independant living - you will.  Can you do it?  Do you have the patience?  Do you even know what Down's syndrome is.  I hope you have good medical and family support.  Good luck to you no matter what your decision.

Answer 19

That's a very personal question.  I wouldn't judge someone for doing so but I could not abort for that reason.

Answer 20

I think it is a very personal choice to make... You need to sit down with the father and talk about whether you would be able to cope bringing up a child who has Downes Syndrome. I personally don't think I would be able to do it...

On the other hand do you need to abort your unborn child? Would you consider adoption? There are lots of people out there who are illing to take your child on board and give them a brilliant life.

Whatever you and your partner decide it is your choice don't let anyone elses opinion change your mind.

Good Luck x