Wrongful birth?

This is probably a bad post to write. If you don't like reading abortion talk, maybe you shouldn't read this. It's nothing personal though.

People are talking about this "wrongful birth" lawsuit where a Portland couple sued their obstetrician for failing to detect their daughter's Down syndrome. At two weeks old Kalanit Levy was diagnosed, and now that she's four years old the parents have sued, saying they would've aborted. The couple, Deborah and Ariel Levy, was awarded $2.9 million. The reaction is generally pretty negative. Arizona is trying to ban this sort of lawsuit. Even writers defending the case seem kinda squeamish about it.

The thing is, this is bound to happen. These people aren't abusing the system. This is the system. If abortion is available, and genetic testing is available, then this is going to be a reality. These parents deserved the same right as the estimated 87-98% of parents who currently terminate their Down syndrome offspring before birth. Nobody bats an eye at that.

Here's your options. Either you drastically limit abortion to, say, medical necessity, or you don't limit at all. Fighting for abortion rights but then taking them back when it's something you can't handle, like when it looks like eugenics, or when someone sues because they didn't have the chance to abort that everybody else gets—you can't do that. If you're pro-choice and can't stomach this, you need to reexamine your ethics.