Down Syndrome Testing

Luigia's little friend Sophie is featured in the video "Difficult Diagnosis" you can watch on the link: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/09/us/09down.html?ex=1336449600&en=4e95d7e65c3cf9d1&ei=5124&partner=permalink&exprod=permalink

The article "Prenatal Test Puts Down Syndrome in Hard Focus" by Amy Harmon from the New York Times raises a few ethical/medical issues that are new to the population with Down Syndrome and their families. The new widespread prenatal screening of every pregnant woman in the United States may change our children's world and our social landscape. As said in the article, parent advocates are not "pro-life" or trying to "force" anyone to have a baby with Down Syndrome. Their attitude is more a reaction to the perceived medical community's rejection of their loved ones.

"What developmental age equivalent, the patient wanted to know, do most people with Down syndrome reach?"(Harmon, p.1) Here's my question, "what developmental age equivalent does ANY human being reach? Are we on the road to genetically modify our world so that every one of us looks as similar in shape, form and color as do the genetically modified tomatoes sold at your neighborhood Keyfood? Would parents of a child contracting Leukemia at seven years old opt--had they known it before hand--to terminate the pregnancy? Maybe we should just focus our concerted efforts towards accepting children and people with disabilities, promoting their role in society, improving their health and longevity instead of finding ways to eliminate them? How about starting here: make people around us aware that using the word "retarded" in a derogatory manner is as offensive as using the N-word, the B-word or any other word to demean and mock a certain group of people.