“Reflect on the moral differences between aborting a fetus that possesses the genetic mutation for down syndrome and preventing the fertilization process of egg and sperm that would lead to the same mutation.”
When it comes to the notion of morality regarding abortion, I already have much to say on the topic, but this isn’t a pro-life vs. pro-choice topic so I’ll try to keep my opinions on that out of the conversation as best as possible. Though, it is likely to come up in some potentially overt or subtle ways.
I believe that it is preferable to abort a fetus that possesses down syndrome because what quality of life is this person going to have? Naturally, I have encountered people throughout my life that have down syndrome or other genetic mutations that affect them on a similar level, and they seem happy in their blissful unawareness and maybe it’s just because they don’t have any other concept of living. But I would pity my own child that wouldn’t be able to experience life in the same way I have an appreciate everything with the understanding that I have. There’s honestly no way I would want a child of mine born with down syndrome so they wouldn’t have to live trapped in their own mind while a mutation controlled their life. It’s not even that I wouldn’t want to care for or love a child with down syndrome before anyone believes this is my stance but it’s just that I would want them to have a higher quality of life to fully appreciate the beauty our world has to offer.
I’m curious if there really is a moral dilemma about preventing fertilization that would result to the same mutation? If one could pre-emptively stop something like this from happening is it truly something considered potentially immoral? There’s obviously the moral question of allowing a child a chance to live or stopping a life from being born before it even had a choice of its own. I’m not even talking about fully supporting an idea of eugenics but if you’re able to prevent down syndrome then why would you not take that opportunity? I genuinely don’t see the moral argument here. But that’s just my opinion on the matter even if it may seem disagreeable or horrific to some others.
