Wrongful Birth

I'm feeling badly about the verdict reached in an Oregon court last week, where it was decided that a health care provider was libel for almost 3 million dollars to the parents of a Down Syndrome baby. It was a "wrongful birth" suit, brought because a Doctor failed to diagnose the child BEFORE she was born. It only took the jury 6 hours to deliberate (12-0), and find for the parents.

The main reason this bothers me is that I've come in contact with so many Down Syndrome people in my life, and the idea that they could have been aborted is very upsetting! I struggle with the knowledge that as technology has evolved, it's now pretty easy to find out if a baby is not "perfect" while still in utero. If not, an abortion can put an end to the possibility of having to work hard in oder to support the child.

During WWII, the Nazis experimented on this sort of thing in the hope of creating the "perfect" race of people. Hitler had a particular distaste for people with disabilities. I'm sure he'd approve of this wonderful technology. And if a birth is determined to be "wrong", why can't also a life be determined to be "wrong"? Do we really want to go down that road of "Perfection"? I don't!

There have been studies done where somewhere between 89 and 92 percent of women have said they would terminate their pregnancy if they knew they were carrying a Down Syndrome child. That's an astronomical statistic! I'd also like to know if they interviewed mothers wih Down Syndrome children. The mothers I've met deeply love their children! As a parent, I'd much rather deal with the needs of a child with a disability, than a child who grows up with entitlement issues. I guess that's just me...