Comments on: Push-polling human life. http://jonthebaptist.com/?p=143 Rethinking church, from the ground up. Tue, 20 Jul 2010 01:21:52 -0400 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.4 hourly 1 By: Jon http://jonthebaptist.com/?p=143&cpage=1#comment-1199 Jon Fri, 11 May 2007 04:29:49 +0000 http://jonthebaptist.com/?p=143#comment-1199 Jed -- thanks for the comment! You throw up a few lines at lunch, and come back to find yourself on Slate! Down Syndrome is, obviously, a limitation -- a bad thing. That said, I don't think life <i>with</i> DS is a waste of life, any more than life with cancer is a waste of life. These parents are trying to point out that they and their children find life worthwhile. It is frustrating that the source of their trouble can't be fixed, but the trouble does not outweigh the joy. Whether it is cultural misconception, or political correctness, our Doctors aren't very good at communicating the actual range of outcomes experienced by parents. In fact, they frequently magnify the 'harm' of DS, at least compared to the actual experience of many parents; at the same time, they minimize discussion of abortion, because of it's a difficult topic. The College's recommendation means <i>millions</i> more women are going to be placed in this pressure-cooker of a situation. They're asked to make a very permanent decision, under time constraints, about a relatively rare condition. Very little changes in dialogue, over millions of pregnancies, could have a big effect. Jed — thanks for the comment! You throw up a few lines at lunch, and come back to find yourself on Slate!

Down Syndrome is, obviously, a limitation — a bad thing. That said, I don’t think life with DS is a waste of life, any more than life with cancer is a waste of life. These parents are trying to point out that they and their children find life worthwhile. It is frustrating that the source of their trouble can’t be fixed, but the trouble does not outweigh the joy.

Whether it is cultural misconception, or political correctness, our Doctors aren’t very good at communicating the actual range of outcomes experienced by parents. In fact, they frequently magnify the ‘harm’ of DS, at least compared to the actual experience of many parents; at the same time, they minimize discussion of abortion, because of it’s a difficult topic.

The College’s recommendation means millions more women are going to be placed in this pressure-cooker of a situation. They’re asked to make a very permanent decision, under time constraints, about a relatively rare condition. Very little changes in dialogue, over millions of pregnancies, could have a big effect.

]]> By: Jed http://jonthebaptist.com/?p=143&cpage=1#comment-1196 Jed Thu, 10 May 2007 23:05:11 +0000 http://jonthebaptist.com/?p=143#comment-1196 Hi Jon Found your blog linked from slate.com and I must say you make a good point. Framing a question is always loaded and it's important to clearly explain the odds of a false positive, a false negative etc. However the reason why doctors say "I'm sorry, but your child has down syndrome" is because it is unambiguously a Bad Thing by everyone. They also say, "I'm sorry, but the test results are positive for cancer." Abortion, for all its cultural freight (great phrase btw) is not unambiguously considered a Bad Thing by everyone. Due to the aforementioned freight there is a great deal more sensitivity and pressure to present the option to abort neutrally in a medical setting. Keep up the good posting -Jed Hi Jon
Found your blog linked from slate.com and I must say you make a good point. Framing a question is always loaded and it’s important to clearly explain the odds of a false positive, a false negative etc.

However the reason why doctors say “I’m sorry, but your child has down syndrome” is because it is unambiguously a Bad Thing by everyone. They also say, “I’m sorry, but the test results are positive for cancer.” Abortion, for all its cultural freight (great phrase btw) is not unambiguously considered a Bad Thing by everyone. Due to the aforementioned freight there is a great deal more sensitivity and pressure to present the option to abort neutrally in a medical setting.

Keep up the good posting
-Jed

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