uTOpia

These days, I’ve been following a hospital drama on TV. In the few recent episodes, we see a couple who learns that their unborn child is afflicted with Down’s Syndrome, and they face the terrible dilemma of whether to keep the child, or to abort it.

At the same time in hospital is a mentally disabled girl who was raped by her colleague and got pregnant. Her parents opted for an abortion, as the girl has no way of looking after both herself and a child given her mental disability.

So the couple looks at the reality of bringing up a mentally disabled child, and struggle with the idea of aborting their child (the couple happens to be doctors themselves).

Where do you draw the line? The advances of medical science have allowed women to be able to “select” which sperm donor to impregnate herself with. It has allowed parents to know if their unborn child is suffering from any disabilities, thereby allowing them the “choice” of whether to keep the baby or not. Not to mention cloning and the Brave New World of 1984 or Walden Two.

I just think we shouldn’t try to play at being God.