Her fetus was not affected with Down Syndrome, it was triple-X. And while I don't object as you do to parents choosing to abort for Downs, which inevitably results in significant mental retardation and life-shortening physical defects, triple-X females have no physical problems (just tend to be on the tall and slender side, but that's hardly a defect) and usually have low-normal intelligence (i.e. they are not retarded). They mature normally and are fertile, and unless they've been tested for chromosomal abnormalities, usually nobody knows they have one -- they're just tall and slim and not particularly smart. In other words, they have no characteristics which couldn't just as well appear in a chromosomally normal female. So it's pretty hard to grasp what this couple's reasoning process was. If it was that essential to them to have a baby that was as perfect as possible under current technology, why they heck didn't they do IVF with preimplantation genetic diagnosis?
Because that's a bother . . . and might have interfered with a tennis match or a dinner party or a cruise. What you never seem to get (in this thread or elsewhere) is that the Culture War is about values and that what is at stake in it is our very humanity.
Is it OK to kill retarded, physically defective babies after they're born? If not, why is it OK to kill them before they're born?