I haven’t read Freakonomics, but I have heard quite a bit about it, and am intrigued by the book. So I was interested to see Kris link to the Frekonomics blog today. One post struck me as interesting, but missing something.
This post talks about the rapid decline in Down’s Syndrome births since routine testing became available, but questions the almost universal decision to abort when faced with a positive test result. Many sides of the issue are discussed, but what is not mentioned is the long term care that many such infants will need. For me, the overwhelming deciding factor is not wanting to die and leave a dependant child who has never known a life away from home. I’m not going to live forever, so having a dependant at age 37 that will still need care in their 50’s is not rational.
Luckily, my test results have been analysed in conjunction with my blood test, and the adjusted result is a 1:934 chance of Down’s, and greater than 1:5000 chance of the other syndromes tested for.
And in unrelated news, mum bought me a maternity bra today. An E cup. E for FREAKING ENORMOUS!
Disco Knitter 
These are difficult questions to be sure. The main issue for me is that these decisions should be made by the individual people involved, not the government or the conservative right wing who would like us all to be as righteous as they are. What a horrible situation to be faced with — needing to consider an abortion for any reason. No one chooses this gleefully.
Several years ago I travelled to Washington DC for “The March for Women’s Lives” and if Planned Parenthood ever organizes such a thing again, I’ll be there. We were reportedly 1.13 million strong that day, and it may be time for those voices to be heard again.
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It’s odd, because the Freakonomics guys are usually not shy about tackling such issues. The big controversy when the book came out was the chapter about the fall in violent crime in the US since Roe v. Wade was legalized. They make the argument that the women taking advantage of abortion are the ones most likely to have unwanted kids that grow up to become offenders. It’s pretty intriguing. (I can lend the book to you if you want.)
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It is a difficult decision, that’s for sure. I am glad your test results were good. I remember being very worried when I was waiting for the results about a year ago as I didn’t want to have to be faced with the decision of what to do if the chance of having a child with Down’s syndrome was high, especially since it’s only a chance and not for sure. Fortunately, I didn’t have to make that decision.
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