Modern Eugenics

I don't know if it's because I'm an emotional wreck at the end of the semester and struggling to finish papers without entirely breaking down, but I read a New York Times article lately on the problem of a decreasing amount of down syndrome babies being born because parents are screening for this and choosing abortion over giving birth and every time I think about this I start to cry.

The New York Times reporter had the right urge--realizing that this is a problem--but had no way to really articulate that problem, except to say that there will be fewer down syndrome children for those who are born to play with. This is entirely unconvincing--if the only evil is indeed pain and imperfection (as our society believes), then why have any imperfect people if we can avoid it? Why is having more imperfection better? And why make a person live with that imperfection?

No, what we really need is an ethical system that provides reasons why giving birth to a down syndrome baby is good and why aborting one is evil and why it isn't a choice to bear the child, it is a responsibility. We need to understand that imperfection is human and must remember Nathanial Hawthorne's warning in his short story, "The Birthmark" that if we try to eliminate all imperfections and strive for utopia, we will disconnect from our own humanity.

What beauty a person with down syndrome offers: he reminds us of our own dependence on each other and on God. He reminds us of our own limits and imperfections. And with his sinlessness, he reminds us of the innocence with which we must approach God. How dare we reject what has been given to us to love?