“Down syndrome kids are a burden to society and it’s okay to abort them”

Absolutely disgusting. From an objectivist thinker named Nicholas Provenzo:
Like many, I am troubled by the implications of Alaska governor and Republican Vice Presidential candidate Sarah Palin’s decision to knowingly give birth to a child disabled with Down syndrome. Given that Palin’s decision is being celebrated in some quarters, it is crucial to reaffirm the morality of aborting a fetus diagnosed with Down syndrome (or by extension, any unborn fetus)—a freedom that anti-abortion advocates seek to deny.
A parent has a moral obligation to provide for his or her children until these children are equipped to provide for themselves. Because a person afflicted with Down syndrome is only capable of being marginally productive (if at all) and requires constant care and supervision, unless a parent enjoys the wealth to provide for the lifetime of assistance that their child will require, they are essentially stranding the cost of their child’s life upon others.
For starters, he’s a complete ignoramus on people with Down syndrome being capable of only marginal productivity. With proper intervention and training, many of them grow into healthy adults who hold jobs and function with minimal support from others. Paula Sage and Chris Burke, anyone? I’ve personally known three adults with Down Syndrome, and all three of them held full or part-time jobs. Two of them were active volunteers and participants at my local church. Contrasted to the dozens of “normal” adults I’ve seen unemployed and living off welfare, I think that’s pretty damn productive.
Provenzo wants you to be sympathetic to his position. “Hey, don’t be hard on the parents who kill those Down syndrome fetuses, they just want healthy, productive kids” he says. Here’s my problem with that idea: even if your child is “normal” and healthy in the womb and at birth, how can you guarantee that your child will always be a healthy, functioning member of society? What happens if your “perfect” child suffers brain damage in a violent crime and winds upRegarding Henry for the rest of his life? What if she becomes horribly scarred in a fire and loses a few limbs? Do you say, “Well, you’re not healthy and productive anymore” and get rid of her?
You cannot guarantee that your child will always be healthy, productive and “normal.” Most people would agree that if something debilitating and horrible happens to otherwise healthy children, we ought to love them and take care of them as best as possible. Well, why not make that pledge before you decide to conceive at all? Why not decide before you have children, “I’m going to love this baby and honor and cherish its life no matter what comes, before or after it’s born”?
I feel strongly about this issue because I’m the mother of a child with velo-cardio-facial syndrome, the second-most common genetic disorder after Down syndrome, and people abort VCFS kids for the same reason, even though they have an even greater chance of going on to be “normal” members of society. It breaks my heart to think of children like my sweet, inquisitive little girl winding up in a bucket in little bloody pieces just because someone didn’t want to deal with their health problems. I’m also the proud sister of an adult brother with severe autism (thankfully, autism can’t be detected before birth so liberal autistic kids get to live).
If you don’t believe you could deal with the potential burdens of a special needs child, please don’t reproduce in the first place. We don’t want you propagating those genes anyways.
And I know this much: Sarah Palin’s Down syndrome baby already has more intelligence and compassion than Nicholas Provenzo ever will.
Hat tip: Hot Air
UPDATE: Cassy Fiano at Wizbang composed a similar post on the subject, almost at the same time as me. In one of the comments there, Penny Green pointed out the case of Karen Gaffney, another DS person who has achieved an awful lot, including an Associate’s Degree at the normal college level. Further proof that these kids have definite potential and should notbe written off and disposed of.

Comments

“Down syndrome kids are a burden to society and it’s okay to abort them” — 6 Comments

  2. Nicholas Provenso may experience a little twist of fate and end up with a wife and have a baby that she’ll refuse to abort if it’s predetermined handicapped. Good luck finding a respectable woman who would want him. The guys is an ass hat!
  3. First, Nick Provenzo has responded to the many misrepresentations of his views in a followup post at:
    Second, I’m going to speak up to support Nick Provenzo’s *moral* defense of the 90% of women who have learned that their fetus has DS and who eventually chose to abort.
    If a woman takes a serious look at the consequences for her life of having an abortion vs. raising that child, and she decides that an abortion would best foster her happiness in the full context of her life, then that is her legal right. And more importantly, she would also be making the *morally* right choice for herself.
    Of course, if a woman chooses to have the DS child, that is her right and I genuinely hope that things work out as well as possible for the child and the family.
    But to uphold the 10% women who choose to have the DS child as automatically morally superior to the 90% who choose to abort is wrong.
    Those women who have made the difficult decision to abort do not deserve to be tarred with the label “murderer” for choosing their own happiness. And anyone who would attempt to saddle those women with an unearned guilt should be ashamed of themselves.
  4. So, Nicholas Provenzo responded to criticisms of his article without retracting or attempting to bolster his major blunder about people with DS being capable of only “marginal productivity.” That isn’t a response at all.
    Furthermore, neither you nor he has responded to what I’m arguing, that if a woman cannot see herself being happy raising a special needs child and tries to curb this by terminating a DS pregnancy, she’s not fit to be a parent in the first place. She may be able to legally terminate a DS child because of Roe v. Wade and the miracle of modern prenatal genetic testing, but she has absolutely no way of insuring that her child will not suffer from other, more severe disorders or injuries which can’t be detected before birth. If she isn’t okay with her child having Down Syndrome, how do we know she’s going to be okay with her child having autism or cerebral palsy? How do we know she won’t kill her disabled child as this woman did here? It’s the exact same mindset, only one is technically legal because of the loophole of Roe v. Wade and one isn’t. Yet.
    I can and will uphold the 10% who choose to have DS children as morally superior because they are. They’re saying they’re going to love their children no matter what happens to them, and that they’re going to put their children’s happiness over their own happiness. The 90% who abort them are saying that their love comes with conditions and their own happiness is what’s important. They’re selfish and they’re cowards and they know it. Aborting a child with DS may technically be legal, but it will never, ever be right.
  5. A bit after the fact, but I think I have some personal experience to weigh in on this one. I don’t think that this guy is saying, “these women don’t want to have the babies because they are selfish and it would take away from their happiness”. My younger brother is seriously mentally ill (he’s 22), and my mother is basically his caretaker. He is constantly in the hospital, and tried to kill himself a few months back, which resulted in him giving himself a heart attack due to an OD. After he got out of the hospital, he had more problems, and went back to the hospital again. All the while, my mother is trying to take care of him and give him everything he needs.
    My mom is AWESOME. However, she HAS told me before that had she of known about this before he was born, she might have wished she had never had him. Which I know to many people much sound horrible, but it’s not her saying, “he is fucking up my life and causing me pain”, because she loves him so much and will do anything for him. It hurts her (and all of us), to think of what his life is going to be like, because it is very unlikely that he will ever have any of the things that you wish for a son and brother to have. He has to be constantly medicated, he’s in out of the hospital, do you think he’s going to have a wife in that condition? and kids, and a wedding? He doesn’t even want to stay alive half the time, so probably not. My mom sees how painful life is for him, because he have a small idea of this too. Furthermore, with people like this, we are constantly freaked out about what is going to happen to him when my parents are gone. I will likely not be able to afford to support him, and it’s a hard ordeal to care for a mentally ill family member. I mean, I WILL, but my point is that A), it doesn’t just effect the person, their well being is linked to everyone in your family. When they are ill, you feel horrible about it, which is only natural. B) It’s not about the mother feeling selfish for her own life always, but it’s hard to know that you bring a person into the world who is going to have such a hard time existing in it. As you have noted there are exceptions, there’s no way to know if your kid is going to be a lucky one. Plus, I know with many parents who have kids with autism don’t EVER love them any less, but they constantly fear about who is going to take care of them when they are gone…
    So I think the issue is alot more complicated, and not always about people just being shitty mothers.
  6. I have a 2 year old child with Down Syndrome. He is a beautiful, energetic, smart little boy. He is my youngest of 4. I was 34 when I had him. I did the testing and found out he had DS during my 4th month of pregnancy. I decided to confirm DS with an amnio, not with the intentions to abort, but because I learned a little less than half of babies with DS are born with heart defects. I was told I would need to deliver in a different hospital if this was confirmed. When his DS was confirmed, I asked my doctor what she would do. I was and still am amazed at her answer, “I would not go through with the pregnancy, because I couldn’t do that to my other children”. This made no sense to me, a doctor, someone I trusted, giving me advice to abort my baby. Who does she think she is, how many other women did she give this advice to. Women who are distraught and think there is no hope think this is their only option. I have found out this is usually the norm, that is what doctors tell their patients. It is so wrong. Women need to make an informed decision. There is so much these women don’t know. They have old ideas, and other ignorant people to talk to. My own mother said “You’re not going to keep it are you” ( we haven’t spoke in 2 years).
    So 90% of women do choose to abort, I bet most of them have never met a child or adult with DS. They were not given any info on DS, and made their decisions out of fear. I agree with [BJM] before you get pregnant make sure you will be able to accept a child with special needs. They are amazing people. My son was just like any other baby, now he is just like any other toddler. He brings us joy and laughter every day. His siblings adore him.
    My husband and I look forward to the future with our son. He has taught us so much. Selfishly, I hope he always will want to stay with us. If he decides to live elsewhere we will support him anyway we can. Yes Provenso people with DS are capable of working and living on their own. It saddens me thinking about Provenso’s comments, and angers me at the same time. I hope you learn more about DS and it touches your life in some way,
Categories:

Related Post:



0 коментарі:

Post a Comment

ClobberBlog | Mormonism, Evangelical Christianity