Should women who know about birth defects be allowed to abort?
The opposing team believes that abortion for parents who know their child will have birth defects should be legal because a woman should have total control of her body and not have someone stand over her telling her what she should or shouldn’t do.
We believe that abortion for parents who know their child will have birth defects should be Illegal because we believe when parents are planning to have a baby they make a sacrifice and promise to take care of their child no matter the circumstances, and should love and care for them no matter their situation.There is always a risk for a child to be defected or disabled no matter what. We believe that parents should be proud of their child and not feel ashamed
According to Merriam Webster the definition of Birth Defect is “a physical or biochemical defect that is present at birth and may be inherited or environmentally induced.” Every year in the U.S alone 1 in 33 babies have been diagnosed with birth defects. My partner and I decided to talk about Down Syndrome. Down Syndrome is one of the most well known birth defects and chromosomal conditions out of all of those out there. The National Down Syndrome Society states that Down Syndrome affects about 6,000 people each year and 1 in 691 babies are born with Down syndrome. In the U.S there are about 400,000 people living with Down syndrome.
When a women or parents decide to have an abortion for their child with a birth defect(s) they are killing a human being before it had a chance to show their potential, and what they could teach others in life such as compassion, love, patience true beauty and so much more.
We believe that the child should not be punished with death for being deformed or imperfect. The child does not deserve to die because the parent(s) feels they are unfit for the responsibility of taking care of their child. If the mother feels like she can not take care of the child there are many adoption programs such as The National Down Syndrome Adoption Network where there are people wanting to adopt a child with; for example Down Syndrome. When parents decide against abortion for their child with Down Syndrome and give the baby over to adoption, they are giving their child a chance to live in this world and if unfit to care for it, then give the child away to someone who will care and love the child unconditionally.
Abortion almost all the time will affect the parent(s) and not always in a good way. When someone is thinking of going through with an abortion for their child with birth defects many things go through their mind. They might think that they are doing the best for them right now but later in life they might regret letting go of their child due to it’s birth defects. Many women who have had an abortion are “81% higher risk of subsequent mental health problems compared to women who have not had an abortion. Women with a history of abortion have higher rates of anxiety (34% higher), depression (37%), alcohol use/misuse (110%), marijuana use (230%), and suicidal behavior (115%) compared to those who have not had an abortion” according to a study Abortion Harms Women’s Mental Health by Susan E. Wills.
These are only a couple of the most important reasons why women should not abort their babies with birth defects. In our debate we will be talking more about how parents or others have reacted to kids with mental disabilities and the different types of disabilities and deformities that there are. Please look forward to it!
StarPathDesign 
I understand where you are coming from, but I disagree with the idea that a mother should love her child no matter what. You are making the assumption that the mother wanted the child. In some cases, yes, the mother did want a child, but what about when the child is a result of rape? Or incest for that matter? Also, what if you know that your child is going to die soon? Would you want to give birth to a child, one of the most painful things a women can go through, just to see your baby die a few minutes later? You’re also bringing in ideas that sort of don’t relate to the main topic, you’re talking about the ethics of abortion in general. But, I think you gave good facts that supported your position. Good job! – Nishi P. & Bella T. 2nd period
Good overall but I do suggest not to start off with what the opposing team is stating, It makes it look like you are on the side of how parents should abort if their child has a birth defect. I think that through the blog post, there are not as many facts to support why it’s wrong besides the percentages of mental heath after an abortion. Most of the blog post is about your own feelings to it(and that’s great) although you need more information. Something you can look up, for example, is abortions based on down syndrome, what it has to do with the parent’s genes, places that can help a child with this condition, what a child with down syndrome is capable of related to people that don’t have it. Maybe even find autobiographies by people with down syndrome and their experience with it, and mothers/ fathers with a down syndrome son/daughter. There’re people in school that have a sibling’s with down syndrome you can ask questions to, for example, if there is any difference between having a sibling with a condition and one that doesn’t? How would they feel about this subject? or What if they didn’t have that sibling? These suggestions can make your debate a lot more powerful since you have so much to talk about rather than just what you feel.
I hope I gave you some new topics or questions you have not thought about that you can use in your debate, good luck to you guys(:
Carolina Vazquez
I can see where you’re coming from and why you feel the way you do about aborting babies with birth defects but I disagree with your statement on abortion is killing a child’s chance at a good life because in some cases of birth defects like Anencepahly and Tay-Sachs where a child isn’t even given a chance at life in the first place. I know that the abortion of a child with birth defects isn’t pretty to think about, but in some cases it is needed and cutting off the access of safe abortions to the women that need it is unfair. And in my opinion If you only think of stopping abortion’s for babies with Down Syndrome but generalize it as all birth defects, you will disregard the other fatal birth defects that affect pregnant women and completely miss the big picture of it all.
Name?