The eradication of Down Syndrome with prenatal testing
A child with Down Syndrome, featuring the characteristic facial features of someone with Down Syndrome: almond eyes, flat face, etc. (Found in Advanced Google Image of copyright-free images) Down Syndrome is the result of having too many copies of chromosome 21, or sometimes having part of chromosome 21 added to another chromosome when one already has two normal copies. Chromosome 21 is the only autosomal chromosome (as in not X or Y) that a human can survive to adulthood with more than two copies of. Down Syndrome is characterized by certain facial features, usually (but not always) some degree of mental impairment, and occasionally physical health problems such as heart defects, although these don’t happen very often. For decades, pregnant people have been going through tests to see if their fetuses have the condition, and between 60 and 90% of parents in America who get a prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome get an abortion. 1 In general, I’m pro-choice, but there are...