If you knew your child would have autism...

It seems that someone in the UK has figured out a possible pre-natal screening test for autism. (I apologize in advance for the biased website... it's where I got the info and I'm too busy/lazy/whatever to look it up elsewhere... feel free to look the info up in other sources.) It's still very new and relatively untried. However, it's making some people very nervous... and with good reason. The eugenics movement was a horrifying chapter in American, British and, most notably, German history (for more info take a look at War Against the Weak by Edwin Black... I'm looking forward to a better source but he does a pretty good job).

I remember being involved in an abortion debate in college. The debate itself was pretty mundane with only a few interesting facts. It certainly changed my views regarding choice and free agency. But that's neither here nor there. The one thing I remember most clearly was when we were talking about the disabled. In the most intense part of the debate, one of the pro-choice women yelled, "They don't deserve to live!"

You can imagine how silent the room became after that. Every member of the pro-choice side (except the woman who had shouted) either looked ashamed, shocked, or some combination of the two. The pro-life side mostly looked as if they had expected it, though one or two looked as if they weren't sure they'd heard her correctly.

Now that I have two special needs children, I know the answer to this question myself. But for those who read my blog, I think it would be good to ask the question of yourself. If you knew your unborn child would be autistic, what would you do?