Down Syndrome shouldn't be a death sentence

In the era of genetic testing, when we can know so much about babies while they are still in the womb, there has arisen an alarming practice of deciding to abort babies shown to have Down Syndrome by prenatal testing. Unwilling to provide the extra support for someone with these special needs, our culture has constructed the narrative that killing these unborn babies is an act of mercy which spares them from a life of suffering.

Contrary to the popular narrative, Down Syndrome does not condemn people to lives that are meaningless or full of suffering. Indeed, many people will say that people with Down Syndrome are the happiest people they know and that they bring joy to those around them. A 2011 study found that 88 percent of older siblings of Down Syndrome patients reported that they were better people because of their siblings. Down Syndrome doesn’t prevent people from having full, valuable lives.

It is true that people with Down Syndrome have cognitive disabilities and require more care and support. Citing the extra workload both for the caregivers and the medical system at large, doctors and nurses sometimes actively encourage abortions if a prenatal test indicates Down Syndrome. That’s why Iceland made headlines in late 2017 for having “eradicated” Down Syndrome; the nation’s state-run healthcare system offers prenatal screening, which roughly 85% of pregnant women choose to undergo, and almost all women who receive a Down Syndrome diagnosis choose abortion. Ease and cost-saving concerns take precedence over the value of human life. No innate characteristic, like a disability, can justify killing a person. No one would identify as a eugenicist today but make no mistake, that’s what is happening.

Eugenics is rightly condemned today as pseudoscience. However, the prevalence of genetic testing has allowed it to come back into the culture almost unconsciously. This has had severe consequences for babies who are less than “perfect” in society’s eyes. Since we can catch the “imperfection” before they are born (when their humanity would become undeniable), we can justify ending their lives. Abortions due to Down Syndrome diagnoses are no different than any other horrific eugenics program, but we have convinced ourselves as a society that this is legitimate medicine. Of course it’s not, and it shouldn’t be socially acceptable. What is needed instead is more support for parents facing such a diagnosis and for people with Down Syndrome, both as children and as they go out into the world as adults. Abortion cannot be the answer.