Shauna Perigo

1st Period Mr. Hirsch

April 3, 2012

Eugenic Abortion Outline

I. Introduction

Context: Define eugenic abortion and prenatal testing
Define basic disorders like down syndrome and spina bifida
State basic facts and statistics: 92% of all babies with down syndrome are aborted, 90% of babies with spina bifida aborted, only 20% of all pregnancies aborted
Thesis: Women should not be allowed to abort a baby at any point in their pregnancy solely because it has a disability.

II. Background Info

Topic Sentence: Usually when a woman finds out she is pregnant, she will be given prenatal tests that screen her fetus to check for early signs of it having a disability.
Early prenatal tests given: blood test that finds markers associated with genetic conditions, sonograms used to measure the fluid in the baby’s neck- can indicate that baby has down syndrome
If results of a prenatal test indicate that a baby has down syndrome, further tests are given, which include:
Amniocentesis= inserting needle into the womb to examine chromosomes of fetal cells, CNS test does the same thing

Amniocentesis and CNS are controversial- both can cause miscarriages: 1% from amniocentesis and 2% from CNS will miscarry

III. Reason #1

Topic Sentence: Eugenic abortion sends a message to disabled members of the community that they are inferior to healthy people
Evidence: If disabled members of the community see that eugenic abortion is allowed at any point during a pregnancy, and regular abortion is not, disabled people will think they are worth less than others
It is essentially saying that disabled people are worth less when you allow eugenic abortion and not regular abortion at any point
Disabled Person’s Perspective: “These deaths are sometimes dismissed as “only” 2% of the total. “Only” implies a value judgment that these lives are somehow less important because of their smaller absolute numbers, but the vastly greater discrimination is clear in the statistics.” -SPUC.org

IV. Reason #2

Topic Sentence: Eugenic abortion allows parents to create a “perfect” baby, which is not morally right.
Evidence: The right to choose can be used to selectively abort children until a parent has gotten rid of all “undesirable” kids
Parents should be happy with whatever kid they get, but eugenic abortion allows them to get rid of kids that only have small things wrong with them

V. Reason #3:

Topic Sentence: Many times woman only get eugenic abortions because they are not presented with any other options by their doctors, who are scared of being sued for a wrongful birth.
Evidence: Many women who get eugenic abortions state “not knowing much about Down Syndrome” and yet they aborted their baby who had it
Women are not fully presented with the info about Down Syndrome and other disorders in order to make the decisions themselves
Quote: “In a survey, 60 women were asked to rate how much they knew about Down’s syndrome on a scale of 1 (very little) to 10 (a lot). 39% out of 62 women rated their knowledge of Down’s syndrome at 3 or less. 70% said they felt they had not had adequate preparation for a nuchal translucency test.13 Similarly I once had a phone call from a woman who had been told her unborn baby had spina bifida and had been advised to abort. She said “no one will tell me what spina bifida is.”” SPUC. org
Quote: “Sarah Thomas, whose son Luke is now 13 years old, was told when Luke was unborn and diagnosed as having spina bifida and hydrocephalus, that he had “a head like a banana” and “part of the brain missing.” Doctors said he would be unable to do anything much for himself if he survived, which was considered unlikely…. Today Luke uses a wheelchair, is very bright, and enjoys going to a mainstream school. His head looks remarkably ordinary, and Sarah says his two able bodied brothers are far more trouble than Luke.” SPUC.org

VI. Reason #4:

Topic Sentence: Disabled children can still live happy, fulfilling lives and should not have their lives cut short.
Evidence: Living with conditions like Down Syndrome has become easier in past years
Many more adults with conditions like Down Syndrome are marrying and getting jobs - some only need a little bit of support
Most people with Down Syndrome claim they do not suffer because of it- most of them lead happy, ordinary lives
Why should their lives be cut short? Who is to say that their lives are worthless?

VII. Reason #5:

Topic Sentence: Eugenic abortion should be outlawed because some woman choose to have a eugenic abortion simply because it costs much less than raising a child with a disability.
Evidence: It is around $60,000 for a woman to have prenatal tests and an abortion, but it is almost $200,000 for a woman to raise a disabled child (SPUC.org)
Woman may consider the abortion a bargain compared to raising a disabled child, and abort a child for this reason

VIII. Reason #6:

Topic Sentence: It is not okay to discriminate against disabled people after they are born, so why should it be okay to discriminate against them before they are born?
There are many laws that outlaw discrimination against disabled people, but it is totally okay to discriminate against someone before they are born
When is the line drawn?

IX. Counterargument

Topic Sentence: Many people think that it is not fair for a mom to have to devote so much of her time to raising a disabled child. This is a valid argument, however, there is lots of support out there for moms with disabled kids. Putting your child up for adoption is another answer, but killing your fetus is never the answer.
Evidence: Killing somebody is never allowed just because it relieves someone of a huge burden. Why should killing someone before they are born be allowed just because they are a burden?
A woman would not be allowed to kill her husband just because he was a “burden” to her, so why could a woman be allowed to abort her fetus for this reason?

X. Conclusion

Sum up main points
The question really comes down to: At what point is human life no longer valuable?
There is no clear answer to this question
However, a human with a disability is still a human
Everyone has their quirks and imperfections, but imperfections should be embraced and supported instead of looked at as “burdens”