What are the full implications of this?

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Article in today's guardian which you can read here..Autism screening.

This leaves me cold and terrified. What comes next? Unnatural selection, anyone who doesn't fit the NT mould 'terminated' before birth? There needs to be some sort of ethical debate here, that is for sure.

Personally I believe that one shouldn't have children unless they're willing to put aside their expectations about what their child "should" be like and just accept the kid as they are, short of the kid actually going out and hurting anyone, but...

On the other hand, do you WANT someone like that lady from the Autism Speaks video who was talking about how much she wanted to drive her child off a bridge or some such to actually have that child? If they're that close-minded as to be working off something to the effect of "Ooh, I don't want THAT baby, it has an icky-poo mental disorder," maybe they shouldn't be having a kid with a disability - or any kid at all, so they can't make them into close-minded bastards like themselves. Yeah, they could put them up for adoption, but that's never easy, and who's going to provide for a kid with special needs to get what they need in the mean time? The state? Not to mention the child would be up against a lot of odds at even getting adopted. People are shallow.

Also, you have to have sympathy for the people who just couldn't afford to take care of a disabled child. Couples who have to work all the time to even feed themselves, let alone a child, and forget about any other special services, shouldn't be forced to take on that burden. They might have even been okay with having an autistic child under other circumstances - who knows. I don't think they can be faulted for actually figuring that they could not take care of that child, and that giving them up for adoption was far from a guarantee of safety or happiness. (Mind you, I'm not sure if the poor have access to such screening - this might not even be an issue.)

Keep in mind that, for Down's Syndrome, for every 9 people who abort their kid with the condition, 1 person doesn't. That's not promising, but it certainly doesn't spell absolute doom. It could even be a higher ratio of those who aren't aborted for autism - though there has been a ton of negative publicity courtesy of Autism Speaks and other types like that, there's also the positive stereotype of savants and geniuses to counteract that.

I don't like the idea that people are screening for this, but on the other hand, if it's going to happen, maybe it's better that AS kids aren't born into families that don't want them for stupid (or sometimes valid) reasons and who might neglect or abuse them.

I don't feel that any baby should be aborted, just because they have a disability. Too many people are obsessed with a perfect life. A life that's not perfect in society's eyes, is better than no life at all. There's no telling how far a special needs person will go, in life.

That's just my opinion, though. Most people think differently than I.

This is sickening look what happened when they found the genes for down syndrome over 90% of parents who found out their child was a down syndrome baby had an abortion because of that reason. I don't believe in abortion unless the life of the mother is at risk and this is one reason why I don't believe in abortion. The people of this world have been lied to, and manipulated by organizations such as DAN, and Autism Speaks and people like Jenny McCarthy. If they do succeed and I hope they are not successful but if they are our people will be at grave risk of being eradicated as the world tries to commit genocide against us one abortion at a time.

"What's next?" you ask? What is next is the modern holocaust. If people do not get off this lame "everyone should be the same" crap soon, much worse will come. I already saw some articles telling about autistics and convention areas being vandalized. I feel as if I am part of a modern day south with Jim Crow Laws directed against autistics.

BTW, has anyone here seen the movie Gattaca? I seriously feel this could become part of our future at this rate. We need more satires like this movie.

"you should abort your baby due to it's impairment, it's left arm is half a centimeter longer than it's right." <how long until we start hearing that?

to me this sounds like hitler beyond the grave, everyone's so obsessed with being perfect that they refuse to have anything that isn't which will result in more people not being born for the simple fact they're not exactly perfect. how long until a child is aborted because they don't have blue eyes?

this just goes to show how pathetic the world truly is, i agree with abortion when the mother's life is at risk or if the child would otherwise suffer every day of their lives but as long as both are happy why does it matter if there's a disorder or handicap?

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most people think i'm a bit strange, even abnormal. normal is the majority, the average, what is most frequent. if you lived around here, you'll see the positive of not being normal

I have heard quite a lot of this on the internet that scientists looking for some molecular genetic markers for autism so to allow people to terminate autistic/Asperger syndrome foetuses before they hae been born. WHat has people come to it is utterly barbaric and this shows that ot me that people are not really civilised as they say they are or at all to favour a neurotypical person will cot contribute towards anything except a second Dark Ages. The screening of autism is a very alarming and frightening thing to happen and I see that if the Nazis get their way the species as a whole will be doomed. It looks that neurotypical people as a whole are just to unintelligent and will believe the absurd propaganda and lies of the neo Nazi oganisations Autism Speaks and DAN. It is about time for people to say no and stop these hatemongers from doing their evil. People should be putting their science to good use such as replicator technology rather than this genocide. It makes me ashamed of being human.