This is a very complicated thing to talk about and I'm still not sure what my opinion is  :roll:

One should take into consideration that our medical system can keep babies alive that would not survive, if we did not have high tech medicine. No doubt, this is good on one hand, as ethically we can't let any baby die. But on the other hand, seeing the evolutional and biological point (and only that - I don't want anybody to let children die because they have some "defects") it does no good for the "human race", if watching it as only one species on our planet that has to compete for resources. It is not always the first child, a women gives life to, that's the fittest/intelligentest/best conditioned. And going back to the "rules" life (in general) has to follow, only the fittest are to survive.

That does not mean in any way, that I propose genetic testing - for no human is wise enough to see, which genes the human race will benefit from. We have dissociated from the roots of being natural long ago.

On the other hand we live in a very competitive world - in ways, human are not fit for. We (humans) suffer from stress-related deseases, little exercise, false or too much food and, not for least, insufficent and inadequate social behavior (which does not mean AS - it's more that the NT society goes/pushes that way, but I don't know, if a pure AS society would be better).

We interfere with our instincts (using anti-baby-pill changes our natural ability to find a sexual partner who fits the immune system best) and we mess up our environment. And in my opinion we live too close together (which could be the AS in me, but I don't think that it is only this).

Maybe it is partly the environments fault that a lot more people show AS or autistic traits then it seemed before. Learning that autistic genes belong to our human race inheritance and that by now nobody can say, how it comes, some ppl seem to get more autistic than others (please correct me, if I'm wrong), makes me think about what else could be responsible that autism seems to be a problem now, but was not in early times (at least it seemed not to be as big as a problem).

For me, I would not want to raise a child with Down Syndrome or one that has brain defects in a way that I could not hope it once will have an independent life - but on the other hand, I don't think I could abort any child nor give it away for adoption. Another thought: I don't know much about Down Syndrome and maybe I would change my mind if I knew someone with it.

Anyway, I don't think that someone can be the conscience for anybody else. I would be very upset if someone came along and told me to keep or abort a child of mine - for what reason ever! But I think it wise to regulate the period in which such an decision can be made - it is pure cruelty to abort a child that could live, if born premature.

There is much more to say and to consider which I just have problems to express in English, I'm sorry. And of course I have changed my point of view quite a lot of times in my life, so maybe finding out some new facts or having new thoughts might change my mind again.

I like a saying (sorry, for my poor translation): Only boobies/fools don't change their mind.

puzzled
Sibylle