(no subject)

[primroseburrows]

A while ago, patchfire linked me to this post on the Mothering Dot Commune forums.

The outcome of the situation is here on post #159. How sad and pointless this decision was.


This incident is just--oh, I don't know. Not right, on so very many levels, one important one being that the accuracy of this Gender Mentor Monitor is very much in question, and in a lot of ways sounds like so much snake oil.


It's really got me thinking about the politics and bioethics of sex-selection abortions, partly because the mother chose to abort because he was a boy, rather than a girl, which is more common and is often perceived as a feminist issue.


Caveat: This post is NOT a statement about Roe v. Wade, or circumcision as a practice at all. It's about a very specific incident, and the ethics thereof. After all, just because someone has a legal right to do a thing doesn't make it ethical to do it.

patchfire has also posted about this. You can read it here.

Comments

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

Some decisions that are legal aren't ethical. I've always thought that the decision to become pregnant, as well as the decision to have an abortion, is a life-changing, very serious one. This couple is making a mockery of both, as far as I can see.

I'm scared because it has broader implications...

[aphephobia.livejournal.com]

I agree on that- they're doing serious shit and they have a very throwaway attitude to it from what I've seen. It, funnily enough- reminds me of a news report I saw the other night about C-sections and the increase in people wanting them for convenience rather than medical neccessity, and not thinking about the seriousness of what they're doing if they don't actually need one. (And this isn't a stab at people who have- by no means. Honest. I realise people DO need such surgery enough of the time. The report- and me- aren't talking about that.)

While it's not my place to judge, I feel that terminating an "imperfect" pregnancy is just... well, it doesn't gel with my personal ethics. (That said, I realise for a lot of people, it's not a decision that's made lightly- like this.) One day it might be a boy they don't want, next minute it might be a fetus that might turn into someone who's gay... or who has Asperger syndrome... what next?

The idea of abortion as a way to work eugenics sickens me.

And... I can't help but think- if people want a pregnancy on their terms- ie, it has to be a boy, or be super-intelligent, or what-have-you... doesn't that make parental love conditional? And what happens when things don't turn out as predicted?

Re: I'm scared because it has broader implications...

[primroseburrows.livejournal.com]

ne day it might be a boy they don't want, next minute it might be a fetus that might turn into someone who's gay

When the gene for homosexuality is found (and I think it might be), there will be abortions like this, I know there will. How sad.

Eugenics is evil, I don't care what's bloody politically correct. Personally, I refused all the testing for fetal abnormalities out of preference and protest. Who's to say who's better than anyone else? :/