I attended a deliberation on 2/21 for Beth Parfitt’s class. My friend was on the deliberation team, so I wanted to go to her event and participate. It was about abortions on the basis of down syndrome testing. This deliberation was set up very differently than our deliberation. It took place in a classroom during class time, which I think made it difficult for students to show up to. However, it was a very interesting topic and I was excited to attend.

I believe only me and another person were able to show up because it was during class time, however I enjoyed the conversation. I feel like I participated a lot because me and the other girl were the only ones not in the class nor part of the deliberation team. However, I got some really interesting perspectives, and I feel that this issue is more of an ethical issue than my deliberation was (binge-drinking). I feel that most people have differing opinions on abortion, while not many people have differing opinions on binge-drinking (although there are plenty of differing opinions on how to approach it).

One of the things that was most interesting to me was the assumptions that people brought to the table. One girl said that a “perfect society” was one where no one had disabilities. However, I’m not sure that I agree. I understand that no one wants to be disabled and that disabilities (physical or mental) can be straining and difficult. However, I do not think it’s ethical to say that (essentially) getting rid of disabilities is the way to make our society better. I think that we learn a lot from hardships and from people who experience life differently than the average person. So I think that this conversation came from a perspective with the assumption that people with down syndrome are bad and unwanted.

I think that there were a couple of really interesting arguments made about how aborting on the basis of down syndrome sets a precedent for aborting for any reason. So if we allow abortions for down syndrome testing, why not allow abortions for those that cannot afford a child and then so on and so forth. Eventually it’s possible that abortions are legal for any reason. (That may be a good or bad thing depending on one’s views). I also think that there could be a precedent set of NOT allowing an abortion on the basis of down syndrome, ultimately leading to abortions in general becoming illegal. If you can’t allow an abortion on the basis of down syndrome, can you allow an abortion on the basis of other disabilities? What about monetary reasons?

I think what separates abortion on the basis of down syndrome from other reasons is the question of the quality of life for the child. It was a really interesting discussion to try to gauge the quality of life for someone with down syndrome, and how that differs from other situations in which a parent may consider abortion.