Sorting for the Perfect Baby

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Will Babies with Down Syndrome Slowly Disappear?

Authored by Brian Skotko, MD, MPP, clinical genetics fellow at Children’s Hospital Boston, the article shows a steady decrease in the number of babies being born with Down syndrome since the introduction of prenatal testing and poses the question: “As new tests become available, will babies with Down syndrome slowly disappear?”

Research reviewed by Skotko showed a 15% decrease in births of babies with Down syndrome between 1989 and 2005 in the United States. In the absence of prenatal testing, researchers would have anticipated the opposite – a 34% increase in births – due to the trend of women waiting longer to have children; known to increase the chances of having a baby with Down syndrome.

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What beliefs about people with Down syndrome are creating this trend? What beliefs about ourselves are creating this trend? What are the implications?

Disability, Feminism and Eugenics: Who has the right to decide who should or should not inhabit the world?

A paper written and presented by Joan Hume at the Women’s Electoral Lobby National Conference, University of Technology, Sydney, 26th January 1996. Copyright 1996.

The subtitle of this paper is the rephrasing of a question asked by Hannah Arendt in her book about Adolf Eichmann and the Nazi extermination programme.

Excerpt:

“The message about disability is loud and clear: the prospect of having a disabled child is not acceptable for many prospective parents. The message to all women is equally clear: it is neither socially acceptable nor responsible to carry to full term a foetus with a disabling condition. With the emphasis on “perfect babies” the message of the new technologies is that disabilities can and must be weeded out by eliminating foetuses with certain defective traits. This is clearly a modern version of the earlier eugenics perception that disability is inherently bad. Given the continuing widespread discrimination against people with disabilities, for a woman to give birth to anything less than a perfect baby is not only socially and economically undesirable but irresponsible.”

Full article at http://www.wwda.org.au/eugen.htm

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