Fetal Screening

    Since life support became available, many families have faced the difficult decision of whether to allow their loved ones to live or to end their suffering.  Now this question can be asked even before birth.  Fetal screening is a new phenomenon which may forever change the way we think about disability and the value of life.  With considerable accuracy, doctors can now test the DNA of an unborn fetus through non-invasive means, so parents now have the choice to terminate a pregnancy if the child has a genetic defect.  Considerable accuracy is a relative term, however.  Those opposed to this technology argue that more testing must be done to ensure

that no fetuses are being aborted needlessly.  They also say that the testing also borders on eugenics, similar to the purification campaigns of the Nazis; many believe that discrimination against the disabled would increase with fewer disabled people around.  It is also discomforting for many to judge whether or not a life with a genetic disorder is worth living.  

     The upside to the technology, however, is that it gives couples a choice.  Many lack the means to raise a child who requires constant assistance, and some believe that if the child would suffer their entire lives anyway, it would be better to have an abortion.  Both sides of the argument are effectively presented in this article.

    I, personally, find the ability to end genetic defects a bit discomforting, and I do not think there is any way to judge the worth of someone's life.  I support this screening as a means of allowing early euthanasia of fetuses with severe defects which would kill them very early, but I would hate to see children with down syndrome being aborted in large numbers.  I support this technology, but very hesitantly.