Choosing Down Syndrome

An argument that more people should have children with Down syndrome, written from a pro-choice, disability-positive perspective.

The rate at which parents choose to terminate a pregnancy when prenatal tests indicate that the fetus has Down syndrome is between 60 and 90 percent. In Choosing Down Syndrome, Chris Kaposy offers a carefully reasoned ethical argument in favor of choosing to have such a child. Arguing from a pro-choice, disability-positive perspective, Kaposy makes the case that there is a common social bias against cognitive disability that influences decisions about prenatal testing and terminating pregnancies, and that more people should resist this bias by having children with Down syndrome.
Drawing on accounts by parents of children with Down syndrome, and arguing for their objectivity,… Keep Reading