Would you terminate a pregnancy if the pre-natal test was positive for DS?

[IceAgeComing]

The test for Downs; at least circa 1993; wasn't as clear cut as its being suggested that it is in this thread.  Perhaps its different in America but at least here there was generally a cheaper test that they'd do with everyone that would indicate whether a person may have Downs; and then a later test that they'd do that was more precise but expensive on those who were positive to the above - I don't know if that was just a thing that the NHS did at the time to save money or a general thing.  My Mum was told that I might have had Downs; I don't and I think that everyone is glad that I didn't have it.

The only answer that most of us could give is "I don't know" since this is something that only people who've been through it can fully understand.  My hunch is that I'd be inclined to seek a termination since bringing up a Downs syndrome child is hard and honestly at this point I think that I'd be terrible at it and kids like that need very good parents, however it'd be a decision that my partner at that time and myself would have to collectively decide together.  I have huge amounts of respect for parents who take on that role and do it very well though; it must be incredibly hard...

[IceAgeComing]

Never (not a left-winger), and doing so should be a felony.

Assuming that this is a special rule and not just part of a wider abortion ban; how would this be implemented?  Say that a person decided to have an abortion independently of any Downs diagnosis which comes through after they've made the decision: would you criminalise them?  To do so would seem to be wrong in my eyes; and to me is a big reason why you can't start criminalising based on things like this.  It also would likely create a situation that is nasty for the child who's mother has made a decision that she doesn't want to look after the kid: and that either means that the kid has to go through a care system that's very hostile to children generally but especially children with special needs; or it'll grow up in a family environment that may well not be overly friendly - especially when you add in the fact that children with syndromes like Downs require lots of hard work to bring up correctly and many people, I'd include myself in this, aren't suitable for the job.  To not do so would also seem to be against the spirit of what you support as well though...  Plus it begs the question that if Downs gets this protected class: what other disabilities should be similarly protected? 

That's why I think that there's a very big difference on this issue between the personal question of whether you would do it and the legal question of whether or not it should be illegal.  I think that the former is a complex issue that none of us will know what we'd do until it happens to us - DC Al Fine brings up exactly the same point from a totally different perspective and its one that I think is very interesting - and the legal side of things which I think is slightly more clear cut in that when you start to ban people from having abortions for particular reasons you run the risk of criminalising people who've made the decision entirely separate of that diagnosis.  Its certainly not something that I'd seek to ban nor do I think that its possible to ban without adversely harming some women unfairly.