Discussion Board on Down Syndrome - Essay Sample

Introduction

The accurate presentation of human diversity is the presence of individuals of different social, ethnic, genetic, ethical, religious and political stands among many other dimensions. However, the advent of gene counselling has gradually yet significantly eliminated the diversity presented by children with Down syndrome which is a chromosomal defect, via prenatal screening. Pregnant women are offered this chance to choose the fate of their unborn children, and a majority of them end up terminating the pregnancies associated with Down syndrome. This advancement, so to call it, has found vast applicability in various parts of the world, with the United States having a termination rate of 67%, Denmark 98% and France 77% (Quinones & Lajka, 2017). These instances are among the many others that depict the lengths that humanity have opted to go due to advancements in genetics and technology.

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Many cite the urge to provide parents and children with a chance to lead healthy and comfortable lives, as the primary motivation behind the inhuman ending of lives that are promising in their unique ways. Iceland has been at the forefront of this, recording cases of about one or two children born of Down syndrome annually (Quinones & Lajka, 2017). Between the years 1960 and 2007, the life expectancy of the children born with Down syndrome had gone up from 10 years to 47 years, and this could have been a sign of the increased survival rates of these individuals (CDC). However, instead of making the possible 47 years of these individuals worth the while, many preferred to bring it down to zero, thereby causing a majority of these children not see the light of the day. Instead of investing in the technology, public awareness and persuasion on how to create a world that would be accommodative of the autonomy held by these individuals, much was done to ensure they never existed in the first place.

Iceland is one of the many countries that have fully embraced the prenatal screening as a way of gauging the chromosomal abilities and normalcy of the fetus. With a population of about 330,000 citizens, Iceland has made strides along the termination of the Down syndrome pregnancies, to a rate of one or two cases of Down syndrome per year (Quinones & Lajka, 2017). The United States, on the other hand, has not fully been launched in this development and has a rate of 6,000 children born with Down syndrome annually (CDC). This translates to the birth of 1 out of 700 children with the disorder. The United States still holds an ethical point of view of search terminations viewing abortion as murder, and this could explain the reluctance in undertaking the procedure. Iceland, on the other hand, sees it as a simple ending of a process, and its government has also been involved in it through public awareness.

Perfection is often a relative matter, and with initiatives such as the termination of pregnancies associated with Down syndrome aimed at achieving perfection, other perspectives might view it as the imperfect act. The wiping away of an entire community in the long-term deprives a nation of its diversity and hence renders such individuals extinct. While the population of those with Down syndrome shrinks year after year, the few "unlucky" ones face a tendency of being discriminated against, with no one to speak for them. The ending of a life is also unethical since every individual deserves a chance to live their lives however, they best see, or fit. The article has addressed the issue in the best way it could, and this has coincided with the statistics by the center for disease control.

References

Birth defects: Data and statistics on Down syndrome. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Retrieved from http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23248222 Quinones J., Lajka A., (2017). "What kind of society do you want to live in?" Inside the country where Down syndrome is disappearing. CBS News. Pp. 1-5