User:Suchanutmeg/sandbox

Disability-selective abortion is the abortion of fetuses that are found to have mental or physical defects detected through prenatal testing. Many prenatal tests are now considered routine, such as testing for Down syndrome. Women who are discovered to be carrying fetuses with disabilities are often faced with the decision of whether to abort or to prepare to parent a child with disabilities. Disability-selective abortion is extremely controversial, as it is tied into issues of both disability rights and reproductive rights.

Opponents
Several different arguments lie at the heart of opposition for disability-selective abortions. Those against disability-selective abortions often quote the right to life of all fetuses. Further arguments include that such abortions are based on misinformation or stereotypes about the lives of people with disabilities. Others consider abortion of fetuses with disabilities a form of discrimination, arguing that abortion after a positive diagnosis sends the message that a life with disability is not worth living. Disability and feminist activists warn against the eugenic possibilities of disability-selective abortions for the disabled community. Reproductive rights activists not only fight for women’s right to abortion, but also for their right to choose not to use prenatal testing. A notable pro-choice supporter who condemned disability-selective abortion was Adrienne Asch, who believed that perceived problems associated with disability were not attributable to the disability itself but an absence of social support and acceptance.

Proponents
Support for disability-selective abortions stems from arguments that those born with disabilities have a quality of life that is reduced to the extent that non-existence is preferable, and terminating the pregnancy is actually for the sake of the future child. Some argue that abortion of fetuses with disabilities is moral in that it prevents the child and/or parents from suffering, and that the decision to abort is not made lightly. One such example comes from the utilitarian perspective of Peter Singer who argues that abortion of healthy fetuses is not justified, but that disability-selective abortions are justified if the total amount of happiness will be greater by doing so. His justification for such line of thinking comes not only from the quality of life for the child, but also the suffering of the parents and lack of willing adoptive parents for children with disabilities.