Disability and Abortion

I know this topic has been done to death, but I want to revisit it once again.  What with  the way things are going with old men making decisions about what women can do with their bodies, the entire discussion may be moot anyway. After all, men have made almost 400 laws about what women can or can't do with their bodies.

But, whether abortion is legal or not, there will still be abortions. They will just be illegal and dangerous abortions.  That won’t change. For the record, I think that men do not need to be involved in abortion at all. Women should make that decision. And I think it should be legal everywhere.  

Let’s visit the ever enhanced and evolving genetic testing that we have today and why might people choose to abort.

We can now do genetic testing in utero to diagnose disease.  Tay Sachs, a disease that affects the neurological system of a child, limiting the child’s life to usually under 2 years, for example can be tested for in utero.  So what should the parents do?  Their decision, right? And probably the most difficult one they will ever make. But it is theirs to make.

Down Syndrome can be tested in utero as well. Now what? The parents now can decide if they want to abort the Down Syndrome affected child. Is Down Syndrome a disability? Is it?  Or CP, or MD? Are you sure? Think about it. Do those children have value? Or not?

What other supposed disabilities can be tested for?  And then what? Are we showing that we don’t value our children if they are not exactly the same as other children? And if we don’t value them as children, will we value them as adults?

Then comes homosexuality or any of the differences that fall under the LGBT umbrella. Trust me, there are many. And we know they are genetic. How soon will we be able to test for that?  Then what?  More abortions? Do we have so little value that no parent would want us?

Will we be able to test for blue eyes? Curly hair? Height and weight? What about IQ?

These are decisions that must be make pre life. We tread on dangerous ethical ground here. 

And soon we will visit what can happen to disabled people at the other end of their lives? When do we who are disabled stop having value? At what age? Can I hear 70? 80 maybe?

Makes me wonder.