I'm an American but studied abroad in Denmark for around 6 months. When I was there, I found out that the Nordic countries have virtually eradicated down syndrome by testing pregnant people for it. 99% choose to abort. How do you guys feel about this?
Personally this is quite disturbing to me. I've known people with down syndrome who live happy, quality lives. Even if it is up to the mother whether or not to abort, when it happens 99% of the time, is it not cultural eugenics? It seems the culture is almost afraid of taking care of a child with down syndrome. Especially in one of the wealthiest countries in the world, where the resources to take care of them are more widely available. If you could test for other things like autism, or even something like extreme depression, would yall do the same thing?
EDIT: I am strongly pro choice and I have talked to many American people on both sides of the political spectrum about this and they unanimously agree with me. On an individual level, I support everyones right to make their own decisions, but when it gets to the population level it becomes more of a cultural issue. There seems to be a cultural agreement that children with down syndrome are too difficult to care for. Does that make it ok to eradicate them? I honestly don't know
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The original was posted on /r/denmark by /u/queen_bs at 2024-03-13 15:12:18+00:00.
Humble_Vanilla_1194 at 2024-03-13 18:09:45+00:00 ID:
kuovthjI'm not sure about Denmark, but for Sweden the tests are not the only reason we have so few💀
queen_bs (OP) at 2024-03-13 15:48:49+00:00 ID:
kuowyoscould you elaborate? not familiar with what's going on in Sweden
Humble_Vanilla_1194 at 2024-03-13 16:07:29+00:00 ID:
kup0ciqNot going on anymore, but we had a pretty extensive eugenics program🤐
Peter34cph at 2024-03-13 16:30:46+00:00 ID:
kup4l2cThat can't have had any impact on the occurrence of chromosome disorders in later generations.
Particular_Run_8930 at 2024-03-13 17:42:43+00:00 ID:
kuphxa6This, even though downs certainly is hereditary, the wast majority of downs incidents happens as spontane mutations. Mostly because people with downs tend to not have children themself.
Peter34cph at 2024-03-13 17:44:03+00:00 ID:
kupi64vMany are sterile.
Particular_Run_8930 at 2024-03-13 17:51:31+00:00 ID:
kupjkg4And of those who are able to conceive, even fewer are capable of caring for a child (some people with downs mosaic are normal functioning).
Peter34cph at 2024-03-13 17:55:59+00:00 ID:
kupkeirNow you'rw saying that some people aren't fit ("egnede") to be parents, and that's eugenics, and eugenics is wrong, because Hitler did it, and everything Hitler did, or liked, or approved of, is wrong. Eating candy is wrong. Listening to opera is wrong. And talking about how certain kinds of people maybe shouldn't be parents is wrong.