SNL’s Weekend Update aired an
episode last week that highlighted one aspect of our nation’s health policy
that has much room for reform: women’s reproductive health. A few days earlier,
the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee had held a hearing on the
Obama administration’s legislation requiring that women receiving health
insurance through religiously affiliated employers are still provided with
contraception. Amy Poehler and Seth Meyers pointed out one glaring flaw with
this hearing: there were no women on this panel.
They took a crass approach (in the
format of one of my favorite segments – Really?! With Seth and Amy), poking fun
at the failures of the “contraceptive” measures espoused by some politicians
(specifically two certain Republican primary candidates). But the side opposed
to this policy, and similar ones, isn’t backing down, and candidate Rick
Santorum recently argued that employers also shouldn’t be “forced” to provide
prenatal tests for pregnant women.
This ongoing debate largely
surrounding abortion and “life” is generally seen as a religious issue, but
both sides of the debate have potentially valid ethical points. One the one
hand, there is the question of whether or not the government has a right to
prevent certain personal decisions women may want to make, and whether it is
right for these decision to be made by a group consisting only of men. On the
other hand, there is the question of what “life” is defined as and, as
Santorum’s objections bring up, whether or not it is right to abort fetuses who
are known to have conditions like Down syndrome.
This last question is the one that
interests me the most, as it is currently the least political and religious. I
see it as a very real ethical dilemma – is it better to prevent a child who
will have to suffer their whole life from being born in the first place? Or is
this eugenics? Does it matter if the parents’ motivations were economic, as
Tucker Carlson argues is generally the case?
It’s a tricky question, one that
can be analyzed through many different lenses. If we start thinking about it as
eugenics – a genetic weeding out of society – then it’s hard to support. But is
aborting a Down syndrome fetus the same as killing a Down syndrome child? And,
is aborting a Down syndrome fetus the same as having an abortion for any other
reason? I think prenatal tests like amniocentesis are vital to the health of
all infants, especially those who have conditions that can be treated if caught
early on, and if caregivers are prepared at birth with the necessary
treatments. As for children who are aborted early on because of their health, I
think parents have the right to make the decision for their own well-being and
for that of their future child. We have no ethical problem with women with AIDS
aborting children who would also have aids – in fact it can be considered
ethically responsible to do so. Such abortions are not out of disdain for a
sickly child, but are intended to prevent unnecessary suffering. While a fetus
determined to have Down syndrome is slightly different, it still should not be
considered eugenics. It is not a system-wide policy to terminate all such
pregnancies. It remains, as it should, a personal decision made by individual
parents based on their values and resources. The decision is always a difficult
one, and while the majority of women who do become aware their child would have
Down syndrome do choose to end their pregnancy, we cannot condemn them as
unethical, callous, or murderous. Abortion is always a decision, influenced by countless factors specific and unique to every woman, and the right to make this decision should not be restricted to certain extreme situations. No woman would take this decision lightheartedly, and no government should prevent a woman from doing all she can to
have a healthy pregnancy and a healthy child just because there is a chance she
may choose to have an abortion.
1 comment:
Good post. If you mention a source (Tucker Carlson) then give some details/quote on what he said. Same for comparing to children born with HIV. Be specific
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