Handicapped babies and abortion - General

If I was pregnant and I knew the child was [B]severely[/B] handicapped, I'd rather abort. Although for the sake of my own conscience I don't know if I could. But then again guilt is no good reason to bare a child, for for the my own, partners and childs sake I don't think I'd mentally be able to go through with it. I feel like a terrible person for even admitting it. What I don't fully understand is how parents of their severely handicapped children can say "we wouldn't want them any other way", I mean sure, you love your child regardless... but there must be at least an ounce that wishes they didn't turn out that way.. whether it's for the benefit of the child or theirs.. or both. Raising a family is hard enough, but I couldn't even begin to imagine how difficult that'd be. props to them, is all I can say really.. but at the same time, in some cases they have no idea the child might be handicapped, so after the birth they can hardly change their minds just like that. But personally, if I knew beforehand, and if it was going to be incredibly severe, for the sake of the child itself and for my own psychological well-being, I don't think I could go through with it. [editline]30th May 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Janek566;36130517]there is absolutely no justification for murder under any circumstance. You cannot kill someone who's defenseless just because they (according to your subjective assessment) can or will develop some handicap in future. That is all.[/QUOTE] I can see your point, I do believe everyone should be given a fair chance. But if you know full well that it'll destroy your own happiness and the child won't live healthily or happily either, then why make the sacrifice

[QUOTE=Janek566;36130517]there is absolutely no justification for murder under any circumstance. You cannot kill someone who's defenseless just because they (according to your subjective assessment) can or will develop some handicap in future. That is all.[/QUOTE] Murder and abortion isn't the same. A fetus isn't a human being capable of thought and emotion. It doesn't even fit the definition of murder at all. That aside, I actually agree that it's presumptuous of the parents to assume that the baby will live an unfulfilled life because of a handicap, it would be purely for reasons of my own concern if I (and whoever the partner was) decided to have an abortion. I would want a healthy child, and taking care of a handicapped person is hard work, both physically and psychologically, especially if you take care of them your whole life.

[QUOTE=Chrille;36130899]Murder and abortion isn't the same. A fetus isn't a human being capable of thought and emotion. It doesn't even fit the definition of murder at all. That aside, I actually agree that it's presumptuous of the parents to assume that the baby will live an unfulfilled life because of a handicap, it would be purely for reasons of my own concern if I (and whoever the partner was) decided to have an abortion. I would want a healthy child, and taking care of a handicapped person is hard work, both physically and psychologically, especially if you take care of them your whole life.[/QUOTE] pretty much what I was saying but in a shorter version. (although the whole murder/abortion thing is entirely a matter of opinion) I've got a few heart and body complications that I've been told would be a pose a large risk during child birth (at least for now) so if I got pregnant regardless of the state of the child I would have no option but to abort. But even if it came to that I'd still struggle to bring myself to do it, it's difficult to imagine what having a life, that you made, inside of your own body feels like. Instinctively all you want to do is protect it and you'd do anything to do that. It's the most personal and greatest thing I feel anyone can achieve, and you just want your own to be perfectly healthy and happy. No one ever says "I want a handicapped child", but some people seem learn to live with that. I really don't know if I would and it wouldn't be reasonable to attempt it

[QUOTE=Janek566;36130517]there is absolutely no justification for murder under any circumstance. You cannot kill someone who's defenseless just because they (according to your subjective assessment) can or will develop some handicap in future. That is all.[/QUOTE] Nobody is saying they are going to murder the baby. We are discussing a scenario in which a potential human life that is known for a fact will be born with a physical defect that will negatively affect their life. If I were to have a child, I would do my best to make sure he or she would have the best life possible. To me, knowingly letting my child go through life with more pain (and unnecessary pain) when we have the ability to detect such burdening defects is more immoral than stopping them from being born in the first place.

Depends entirely on the hypothetical problem. Downs? I'd keep it. Autism? I'd keep it. If it was something [i]bad[/i] however, I'd rather spare it the pain and hardship of a very difficult life. But I would feel that any partner of mine should have the final say in it.

Not that it directly has anything to do with this subject of debate, but the reality is that there's already too many children and not enough parents. People wanting more children is almost like selfish gene-spreading in my book. [editline]30th May 2012[/editline] Abortion is very handy but kind of unnatural and wouldn't be needed if people didn't get pregnant to only have an abort. And adoption is [b]always[/b] good.

Accepting the hypothetical situation where my unborn child has a mental handicap of some sort, more than likely I would desire it never being born in the first place because of its obvious disabilities that would be a burden on his/herself and everyone else. Ultimately the decision would lie with whoever is having the child anyway and I would probably completely remove myself from that decision entirely because I don't have the suffer the burden of carrying the unborn child. Of course the severity of the mental handicap would influence my decision as well. A child with downs syndrome has no chance of impacting the world in a positive way. What is really important in this case is the opportunities he/she will have. And it is clear that some handicaps are more limiting than others.

[QUOTE=Mr Kodiak;36138687] A child with downs syndrome has no chance of impacting the world in a positive way.[/QUOTE] Please look up Andrea Fay Friedman & realize just how naive you are. & she is not the only example.

[QUOTE=BlueChihuahua;36138756]Please look up Andrea Fay Friedman & realize just how naive you are. & she is not the only example.[/QUOTE] I recant my statement about having no chance, however I will not appeal to unrealistic probabilistic fallacies. A child with down syndrome still has a very slim chance of succeeding in anything.