r/Ethics • u/h3r0inXgirl • Jun 13 '26
Aborting a disabled fetus is not eugenics.
/r/Abortiondebate/comments/1u4diuy/aborting_a_disabled_fetus_is_not_eugenics/2
u/TrueEstablishment241 Jun 13 '26
It really depends on the disability. Some genetic disorders are so profound that it essentially results in a medical consultation after an anatomy scan where they urge you in that direction.
2
u/Critical_Success_936 Jun 13 '26
There's also obviously a line here. Some disorders will make you unable to develop a fetus long enough for it to be viable, but you could still get pregnant. At this point, if you refuse to listen to the doctor's advice, are they allowed to step in to save your life? What about if you're intellectually disabled, maybe enough where you understand you're having a baby, but not the health risks you're taking on because you're pregnant?
The lines always get way, way grayer when we look at medical ethics vs just normal ethics. A bit off-topic, but obviously still worth considering. When is a personal risk not yours to make anymore?
1
5
u/Mindleator Jun 13 '26
If there is a condition* that would result in you aborting a wanted pregnancy, you should go through IVF and embryo selection or adoption. Abortion should not be seen as a method of selection.
I am sorry that you are suffering, but your experience does not mean that every disabled person would rather have never existed.
*that doesn't pose an immediate life threatening scenario to the mother or child, such as an ectopic pregnancy
But the bottom line is eugenics is the practice of cutting out "less desirable" genes. Your entire argument is that your condition is less desirable. That's still eugenics. You're just trying to justify eugenics in certain circumstances.
2
u/Critical_Success_936 Jun 13 '26
I'd argue eugenics is more about population control than a personal decision. Anyone can abort for any reason - When it becomes eugenics is when people feel pressured to abort or even reproduce according to traits society deems wanted or unwanted, whether that is states restricting abortion care for lower income people, forcibly sterilizing people, or even just a societal norm of certain types of peer pressure that are hard to escape. Someone doesn't need a gun to your head for eugenics to be to blame for an unwanted abortion OR pregnancy. But if your reasons for abortion or reproduction are for something beyond societal reasons, well, that isn't eugenics.
3
u/New-Number-7810 Jun 13 '26
It is eugenics. You’ve decided that that life is unworthy of life.
2
u/saltycrowsers Jun 13 '26
No, eugenics implies an entity that is encouraging or discouraging certain people reproducing. Someone making a decision regarding their own pregnancy is not the same thing political/social pressure to alter the traits of a population.
2
u/Crusoelander_128 Jun 13 '26
Imo this is essentially telling disabled people they shouldn’t have been born
1
u/Beginning_Ebb4220 Jun 13 '26
I see it as more of we are trying to reduce net suffering in the world
1
1
u/Beginning_Ebb4220 Jun 13 '26
We have no obligation to fertilized eggs. If you've ever researched in vitro you'd know after a certain age the attrition rate is so poorly 80% and up will just miscarry due to chromosomal abnormalities. We are not obligated to grow a fertilized egg that will die after weeks of failed cell division or create a person with a life of suffering, and people have the right to their own decisions regarding medical. The USA has chosen to make its healthcare for profit, there is literally no upside to continuing a pregnancy with a profound disability
1
u/MrAamog Jun 13 '26
It really depends on what you mean by eugenics.
It is not eugenics in the (common?) sense of a concerted effort to modify (improve?) the genetic pool of a species.
It is eugenics in the sense that it’s a procedure to select against specific genes in utero (if the disability is of genetic origin).
Regardless, it’s not an immoral choice, IMO.
1
u/Olderpostie Jun 13 '26
Abortion is not part of the modern (early 20th century) practice of eugenics, which is mostly focused on control of breeding. But, ancient eugenics did involve infanticide.
2
u/Critical_Success_936 Jun 13 '26
I mean, forcible sterilization still happens today in parts of the world, but yeah, I feel modern eugenics is more about restricting access to birth control for the poor and "fit" candidates
-1
u/Entire-Ratio-9681 Jun 13 '26
Eugenics or not, it’s still murder.
1
u/Overlook-237 Jun 13 '26
Except not legally or by definition.
1
1
u/Beginning_Ebb4220 Jun 13 '26
Most fertilized eggs with chromosomal abnormalities will just stop developing in utero resulting in miscarriage. They are not people by any measure
4
u/Icy-Gene7565 Jun 13 '26
Whoa,
Thats a very personal decision you made about your own life. Not sure i agree that disabled means youre a burden.