Would you abort a down syndrome fetus?

Snorri1234 · Post by **Snorri1234** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:20 am

Symmetry wrote: I think you tried to say that abortion should not become an accepted substitute for contraception. Abortion is, of course, birth control. Deciding on an abortion means that you control whether the birth happens or not.

Yeah I figured that's what she meant.

AlgyTaylor · Post by **AlgyTaylor** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 11:57 am

I'd leave the decision down to the mother ultimately. If I was asked my advice, I'd say you had to consider the baby's quality of life and her quality of life because of having an abortion/keeping the baby.

Ethically, from a societal point of view, I'd say that until the baby is cut from the umbilical cord it has no rights. Or certainly fewer rights than a fully developed cow.

MeDeFe · Post by **MeDeFe** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:00 pm

Neoteny wrote:
Bavarian Raven wrote:it sounds crude and harsh, but, we humans are ruining natural selection and what made us what we are...
Bah. Natural selection is for fruit flies. We are above that now.

It's still there, just working on other traits than might be needed in a fictive Savannah that might never have existed in the first place. (Yes, though not a fan of Kitcher I'm critical of Sociobiology)

Neoteny · Post by **Neoteny** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:08 pm

MeDeFe wrote:
Neoteny wrote:
Bavarian Raven wrote:it sounds crude and harsh, but, we humans are ruining natural selection and what made us what we are...
Bah. Natural selection is for fruit flies. We are above that now.
It's still there, just working on other traits than might be needed in a fictive Savannah that might never have existed in the first place. (Yes, though not a fan of Kitcher I'm critical of Sociobiology)

Heh. You're right, natural selection is inescapable. I don't know about the whole savanna thing though...

MeDeFe · Post by **MeDeFe** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 1:20 pm

Reference to a course I've been taking this term. We did a block on Sociobiology, evolutionary psychology and whatnot, including the modular theory of mind and darwinian algorithms, cultural evolution, the basic stuff I guess.

One of the texts was by Kitcher, and imo he's far too polemical, at least his reasoning is sound.

Neoteny · Post by **Neoteny** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 3:51 pm

MeDeFe wrote:Reference to a course I've been taking this term. We did a block on Sociobiology, evolutionary psychology and whatnot, including the modular theory of mind and darwinian algorithms, cultural evolution, the basic stuff I guess.

One of the texts was by Kitcher, and imo he's far too polemical, at least his reasoning is sound.

Well, just about everything related to Sociobiology could be considered polemical it seems...

unriggable · Post by **unriggable** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:14 pm

Bavarian Raven wrote:it sounds crude and harsh, but, we humans are ruining natural selection and what made us what we are...

Untrue. Thanks to C-Section, human babies with big heads (which carry that gene into adulthood) are able to live, instead of killing the mother during birth (and usually dying). More mutations into the gene pool.

Neoteny · Post by **Neoteny** » Thu Jan 24, 2008 4:17 pm

unriggable wrote:
Bavarian Raven wrote:it sounds crude and harsh, but, we humans are ruining natural selection and what made us what we are...
Untrue. Thanks to C-Section, human babies with big heads (which carry that gene into adulthood) are able to live, instead of killing the mother during birth (and usually dying). More mutations into the gene pool.

Yeah, we aren't ruining it, we're messing around with it. I wouldn't say that's a bad thing in most cases. Antibiotics for example...

Would you abort a down syndrome fetus?

Would You Abort a Fetus Which Was Known to Have Down Syndrome?