Dawkins sparks outrage for saying Down Syndrome babies should be aborted

[Esquilax]

I completely agree with you. I do not, however, agree that a fetus is a person.

So? If a ferrous is "defective" under somebody's definition because it may have Down's then by that same definition a human being with Down's is "defective". It's still saying that you don't think a person with Down's has the same value as someone who doesn't.

I don't think it's a matter of value. People have value, diseases and genetic defects do not; I doubt you'd find many people with Down's syndrome who'd willingly accept it as a choice, for example. The person has inherent worth, but you're not eliminating a person when you abort a fetus, there is no soul that was unique to the Down's baby that then doesn't have a chance to ever be alive if you abort it. When you abort, the person that fetus may have become doesn't shuffle off from some spectral plane, having lost his chance to exist.

There's nothing shameful or wrong about acknowledging that sometimes, the personal circumstances that somebody has no control over are less than ideal, but that doesn't mean you're bound to treat that person as any less valid a human being as anyone else. It's just accepting the realities of our physicality as it regards the world we live in; a person with a handicap is a person with a handicap. Should they be treated poorly because of it? No. Should they have the same opportunities as anyone else? Yes, of course. But to just pretend like their circumstances don't exist is just condescending. You wouldn't do that to any other person impacted by events beyond their control, after all.

And when we're talking about a fetus? That's not even a discussion you need to have. Because there's no person there at all, and by aborting you're just making sure the child you do have is given a better set of starting conditions.