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An entry with a link to the article, and commentary from organizations which help people with Down Syndrome.
Another post (same person) on selective abortion and choice and whatnot.
The article itself.
"In my opinion, the moral thing for older mothers to do is to have amniocentesis, as soon during pregnancy as is safe for the fetus, test whether placental cells have a third chromosome #21, and abort the fetus if it does," he said, according to a Raleigh news and Observer report.
Harris has taught at the college for 35 years and he told the newspaper he's made the pro-abortion statement several times before in an attempt to spark discussion.
He told the newspaper he has no apologies for the remark.
"I know somebody who had a child like this, and it ruined their life," he said.
Well, gee. He knows a single family "like this", and he can generalize? I know a single person with Down Syndrome, and judging from her conversation and what she's said about her family, I don't think that she's managed to totally "ruin their lives".
Which is not to say that you shouldn't get an abortion if that's your wont - if you want to get an abortion over something absurd, like the possibility that your child might have the wrong eye color, I'll keep my mouth shut about it unless you ask - but it's equally wrong to say the only moral choice is to abort, or to say that the only possibility is that such a child will "ruin your life".
Another post (same person) on selective abortion and choice and whatnot.
The article itself.
"In my opinion, the moral thing for older mothers to do is to have amniocentesis, as soon during pregnancy as is safe for the fetus, test whether placental cells have a third chromosome #21, and abort the fetus if it does," he said, according to a Raleigh news and Observer report.
Harris has taught at the college for 35 years and he told the newspaper he's made the pro-abortion statement several times before in an attempt to spark discussion.
He told the newspaper he has no apologies for the remark.
"I know somebody who had a child like this, and it ruined their life," he said.
Well, gee. He knows a single family "like this", and he can generalize? I know a single person with Down Syndrome, and judging from her conversation and what she's said about her family, I don't think that she's managed to totally "ruin their lives".
Which is not to say that you shouldn't get an abortion if that's your wont - if you want to get an abortion over something absurd, like the possibility that your child might have the wrong eye color, I'll keep my mouth shut about it unless you ask - but it's equally wrong to say the only moral choice is to abort, or to say that the only possibility is that such a child will "ruin your life".
