Hurts my heart
Technology can be a double edged sword. We have blackberries that connect us at all times. And now we realize what a burden it is to constantly be connected. 80inch television make a movie theater in the home. And now instead of going away and having an experience outside the house, we sit as mummies in front a screen, watching other people leave their homes.
I'm as guilty of both those things as anyone. And I wouldn't trade those minor advances for anything. Many technological advances are wonderful.
3D sonograms. You can see and hear your child, make out the length of his nose, his chin. Watch him suck his thumb in full color on a flat screen monitor. Amazing.
But now, you can also detect problems that before were not so easy to forsee. For instance Down Syndrome. Doctors can now tell you with 90% accuracy if your child will be born with Down Syndrome. And while part of me thinks knowledge is power and preparation can make for a smoother life for the child, part of my heart hurts with this knowledge.
They can conduct this test earlier and earlier in the pregnancy. Am I a cynic? Or is the only reason to test earlier and earlier to make the option of aborting the child easier? Related story HERE. And read this from WaPo "In Britain, more babies with Down syndrome are aborted than are allowed to be born. In America, more than 80 percent of the babies diagnosed prenatally with Down syndrome are aborted."
The Governor of Alaska, someone the more I learn about the more I admire, gave birth to her 5th child (yeah for big families!) who had Down Syndrome. She learned of her sons condition and studied up, and her husband is quoted as saying something I often think ... "We shouldn't be asking why us. We should be asking why not us."
It gives me pause, when we start looking at the genetic traits of our unborn children early. Almots like opening the presents before Christmas? Even knowing the sex of the child ... should you know that at 3 months? Should the name be decided? My husband says yes, it allows for proper planning.
I am not in "the family way" so I can't make a judgment on whether or not I will know the sex of the child and I don't know if I'll have a name.
But what are we doing to ourselves when we can select out the children who don't have the traits that we want? Be that an illness, disease or abnormality? What if they could detect a homosexual gene (I don't even know if such a thing exists)? Or a gene that shows your child wont be good at sports? Or music? Or math?
I know it's chasing a rabbit down the hole, but the whole notion gives me the heebie jeebies, and hearing that so many are aborting their children after learning they have Downs ... it just makes me heartsick.
I'm as guilty of both those things as anyone. And I wouldn't trade those minor advances for anything. Many technological advances are wonderful.
3D sonograms. You can see and hear your child, make out the length of his nose, his chin. Watch him suck his thumb in full color on a flat screen monitor. Amazing.
But now, you can also detect problems that before were not so easy to forsee. For instance Down Syndrome. Doctors can now tell you with 90% accuracy if your child will be born with Down Syndrome. And while part of me thinks knowledge is power and preparation can make for a smoother life for the child, part of my heart hurts with this knowledge.
They can conduct this test earlier and earlier in the pregnancy. Am I a cynic? Or is the only reason to test earlier and earlier to make the option of aborting the child easier? Related story HERE. And read this from WaPo "In Britain, more babies with Down syndrome are aborted than are allowed to be born. In America, more than 80 percent of the babies diagnosed prenatally with Down syndrome are aborted."
The Governor of Alaska, someone the more I learn about the more I admire, gave birth to her 5th child (yeah for big families!) who had Down Syndrome. She learned of her sons condition and studied up, and her husband is quoted as saying something I often think ... "We shouldn't be asking why us. We should be asking why not us."
It gives me pause, when we start looking at the genetic traits of our unborn children early. Almots like opening the presents before Christmas? Even knowing the sex of the child ... should you know that at 3 months? Should the name be decided? My husband says yes, it allows for proper planning.
I am not in "the family way" so I can't make a judgment on whether or not I will know the sex of the child and I don't know if I'll have a name.
But what are we doing to ourselves when we can select out the children who don't have the traits that we want? Be that an illness, disease or abnormality? What if they could detect a homosexual gene (I don't even know if such a thing exists)? Or a gene that shows your child wont be good at sports? Or music? Or math?
I know it's chasing a rabbit down the hole, but the whole notion gives me the heebie jeebies, and hearing that so many are aborting their children after learning they have Downs ... it just makes me heartsick.
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