Here in the state of Victoria abortion on demand to 24 weeks, and up to birth with medical consent. To me it feels like our modern day slightly more sanitised version of Canaanite child sacrifice, albeit to different gods, or the Roman practice of exposing unwanted infants. Bottom line, we dispose unwanted infants.
I'm not familiar with the UK's laws in this respect, without Down Syndrome would the abortions be illegal? If they would otherwise be illegal that's a really slippery slope they're heading down ethically. I would be very uncomfortable having the same views on disability that a certain abhorrent 20th century ideological movement had.
And who's to say that it would stop with Downs Syndrome? There would no doubt be a whole lot of other disabilities that would be added to the list. Including, no doubt, some that we wouldn't necessarily think of as disabilities. Old age, anyone?
I agree with you that we have to think carefully about the issues around abortion. I’m frightened by the current tendency in the US to expand the law to give more and more control over women’s bodies to the government - even embryos are protected now in Alabama, which is incoherent. What about fertilized embryos that don’t implant in the uterus naturally and are removed as part of a normal period? Here in Texas you might have trouble getting a D&C with a miscarriage that doesn’t remove entirely from your body on its own. I wish we could have intelligent conversations around abortion at a national level, where we show concern for both mother and child, and recognize that sometimes there are impossible situations where there is no good answer.
Here in the state of Victoria abortion on demand to 24 weeks, and up to birth with medical consent. To me it feels like our modern day slightly more sanitised version of Canaanite child sacrifice, albeit to different gods, or the Roman practice of exposing unwanted infants. Bottom line, we dispose unwanted infants.
Phil, I've always argued that the rational for infanticide is easy to justify under the current Victorian legislation.
I'm not familiar with the UK's laws in this respect, without Down Syndrome would the abortions be illegal? If they would otherwise be illegal that's a really slippery slope they're heading down ethically. I would be very uncomfortable having the same views on disability that a certain abhorrent 20th century ideological movement had.
And who's to say that it would stop with Downs Syndrome? There would no doubt be a whole lot of other disabilities that would be added to the list. Including, no doubt, some that we wouldn't necessarily think of as disabilities. Old age, anyone?
I agree with you that we have to think carefully about the issues around abortion. I’m frightened by the current tendency in the US to expand the law to give more and more control over women’s bodies to the government - even embryos are protected now in Alabama, which is incoherent. What about fertilized embryos that don’t implant in the uterus naturally and are removed as part of a normal period? Here in Texas you might have trouble getting a D&C with a miscarriage that doesn’t remove entirely from your body on its own. I wish we could have intelligent conversations around abortion at a national level, where we show concern for both mother and child, and recognize that sometimes there are impossible situations where there is no good answer.