Most of the posts I have written so far have been about testing and research and the implications for abortion rates. I expect to write about a lot more subjects once our baby is born, but at the moment our experience is limited to those aspects.
Given the amount of posts related to the subject I thought it might be worth outlining my position on abortion, much as I did with religion. It has been interesting to me as I’ve searched for Down’s-related blogs to see how many of them are written from a pro-life perspective.
I put this down to couple of things:
1/ Pro-lifers are more likely to continue with the pregnancy of a baby with Down’s.
2/ People with children with Down’s syndrome are probably more likely to oppose termination on the grounds of disability.
3/ Pro-lifers with children with Down’s are perhaps more likely to want to share their stories to encourage people to share their views.
4/ Most Down’s-related blogs i have found are written by Americans.
In Britain we are much less inclined to wear our beliefs like a badge. I genuinely don’t know what most of my friends think about issues like religion or abortion. They are important issues but do not define whe we are. Am I pro-life or pro-choice? I genuinely have to think about it.
Despite my reservations about testing and termination rates related to Down’s ultimately I am pro-choice. After a lot of thought we decided to continue with our pregnancy but we very nearly didn’t and I would respect the rights of anyone to make their own decision given their individual circumstances. It was the right decision for us, but that doesn’t make it the right decision full stop.
I do think, however that any decision must be made from a position of knowledge and understanding and that test results and statistics unfortunately provide parents with neither.
5 responses so far ↓
(Un)informed choice in antenatal screening « Welcome to Illinois // July 10, 2008 at 12:52 pm |
[...] choice in antenatal screening No sooner had I written “any decision must be made from a position of knowledge and understanding and that test [...]
Rickismon // July 10, 2008 at 7:55 pm |
For a while, we even had a hospital here (in Israel) that when they had one sign to do an amniocentesis also added in (in the small print) that if it came out positive for DS., you would agree to abort. Otherwise why should the government pay for it?
I suspct that most bloggers in general are American. They are more likely to be “public”
Chromosome screening in the context of IVF « Welcome to Illinois // July 31, 2008 at 11:44 am |
[...] Medicine reminded me that (for me at least) there are few easy answers when it comes to the pro-life/choice [...]
David Cameron on disability, termination and parental choice « Welcome to Illinois // August 17, 2008 at 7:50 am |
[...] this lack of definition is troubling, I agree with David Cameron’s position on this. As I previously stated: “After a lot of thought we decided to continue with our pregnancy but we very nearly [...]
The only thing to fear is fear itself « Welcome to Illinois // November 28, 2008 at 2:29 pm |
[...] percentages they provide prospective parents with deliver very little in the way of knowledge. As I wrote back in July: “any decision must be made from a position of knowledge and understanding [...]