To be absolutely shocked at this story?

JessM there is a family business near me (bakery and cafe) and the owner's adult son is Down's Syndrome and he must be "high functioning" (sorry, I don't know the correct terminology) because to all intents and purposes he seems to live a "normal" life. So are there tests that can identify, or would the degree of impairment influence decisionmaking?

Interestingly, I met a young friend for coffee yesterday who had a termination at 16 weeks when they discovered that the fetus had "gross chromosomal abnormalities" and they were told that the girl she was carrying would be born with Turner's Syndrome. My friend appears to be unaffected by it, (she said she wished people would stop treating her as if she should be in mourning) excepting to feel total relief that these tests are now available.

Dawkins is becoming dangerous. He seems to think he is the all powerful God he does not believe in.

I have no issue with him being an atheist but I am worried about the way he is presenting his views these days.

Move over Adolph H? He arranged for persons with disabilities to be murdered as they were in his eyes imperfect beings.

I think the main thing is that parents must decide what is right for them and not have people like Dawkins trying to make up their minds for them.
I have heard him say some very strange things over the years. He says so many things 'for effect' [the effect of keeping his name in the public's mind.]

This is of course not the same as saying that anyone should be forced to do so. It's a personal statement of what he thinks would be an immoral decision. Remember that those with Down's syndrome do suffer a lot of physical problems as well as learning difficulties so he might be taking that into account.
I guess the philosophical question would be - where do you draw the line if you are a parent who is told your unborn child is going to be born with a significant disability? Because there are a lot of physical defects that could show up on a scan. When my GD was a newborn she was, for a couple of days, on a ward with a toddler who was born without a stomach. The child's life since birth had been mostly miserable and in hospital as far as DS could tell. So would it be right to go ahead if something like that appeared on a scan? Unless you say "no there are no circumstances" then it is just a matter of where you draw the line, isn't it?

I've seen this type of comment on various forums over the years and from what I can understand (and I may be wrong) is that those who support aborting a foetus on these grounds (being immoral) is that you are wilfully condemning a child to live a life without ever knowing independence and freedoms that everyone else has - or something like that anyway. I don't think it's about undervaluing them but more about the life they would have if their parents died and could no longer look after them.

I can see the logic of the argument but I could never support the action.

By their tweets ye shall know them.

Dawkins is another one of that breed...... intelligent idiots.Perhaps there is a test for that?

For Dawkins to make that comment is just BEYOND mere words.

Has absolutely no MERIT whatsoever.

I've just taken the trouble to look at RD's tweets and this is what he wrote:

It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you had a choice.

It is perfectly clear from that that Dawkins takes the view that people with Downs are of little or no value.

One of the most chilling assertions I have ever read.

@vampirequeen :

No - he says "Down Syndrome screening is not eugenic: DS has extremely low heritability."

He has really irritated me with this comment. So if you have a healthy child who e.g. suffers trauma during the birth and becomes cerebral palsied, then do you also have that child "put down"?

Like your post, Elegran.

I have always found Richard Dawkins quite interesting in a curious sort of way. His lofty followers on Twitter are all over the place because of this - someone commented that he clearly has a God delusion himself. Someone else tweeted "Oh no, Richard Dawkins has just become indefensible".

Anyway he is making an idiot of himself on social media. As I said on a previous thread, so clever and yet so not clever .

Is he a follower of eugenics?

A test for people saying damn stupid insensitive things would throw up quite a lot of candidates for extermination.

I dread the time when a test for autism is discovered and they will be saying the same thing.

I wonder if he has been tested for Aspergers? His distinct lack of empathy would suggest it.

Surely the lofty academic, Richard Dawkins, can see the logical fallacy that saying there is a moral duty to abort a foetus with Downs Syndrome is no different from saying that there is a moral duty not to abort such a foetus?

This is not about the morality or otherwise of abortion, but about the valuing of individual human beings and about respecting parents' right to bring to birth and love and cherish their child, no matter what its gifts and talents may be.

I think this man just says things to shock and get publicity (has he written another book?). My BiL has a Downs syndrome child and she is absolutely delightful and they wouldn't be without her.

That is appalling. There are some wonderful rewarding Downs people in the world, why should they be denied to their parents. I asked not to have any tests when I was pregnant.

What is next? Short people? Research suggests they don't do as well as tall people.

Parents have a duty to give unconditional love to their children regardless of what they are born with. Stupid man.