Unspoken by Mr. Will is his hardly-secret agenda that abortion shouldn’t be an option in the first place, except under the most extreme circumstances. Thus his concern is very likely that early genetic testing may create philosophical allies for the pro-choice crowd, a result he is eager to prevent. I am of the opinion that this “failure to disclose” on his part lessens his credibility with respect to the subject.

Equally problematic, is the obfuscation of a certain amount of self-interest that any parent of a Downs child could reasonably be expected to feel, if not to voice overtly. Namely, if it is correct that some 85% of pregnant couples are choosing to abort genetically abnormal fetuses, then the social commitment to a safety-net for those afflicted may possibly be anticipated to erode over time as those individuals decrease in their representation in the general population. However, before we get excited by the canard of Nazi-style eugenics, it bears repeating – over and over and over again – that the difference between the state telling you that you must abort and making that decision for yourself based on your knowledge of your own limits, is profound.

Larisa picks up on a complex debate that I’ve looked at only briefly – take, for example, questions about whether a woman would / should want to know if she carries BrCA2, the gene that makes it more than 80% likely she’ll have breast cancer at some point. This is obviously a painful and difficult choice either way. I think this links to Bill’s point, as simply the knowledge that this test is available will alter a woman’s approach and, probably, her mental state. It’s a very different world where breast cancer is a “lightning strike” about which one has little information or control, versus one in which you can determine with some confidence your risk.

I think it is worth elaborating a little further on the subtle distinction between mandating the testing and mandating (as the ACOG recommendation would do) that parents be informed about the availability of the testing and then given a choice whether they want to know that kind of information before their child is born. My wife and I chose not to have the Down’s Syndrome test when she was pregnant; thankfully, our daughter is healthy. George Will presumably would have made the same choice, and he loves his son who has Down’s Syndrome very much. It supports autonomy to give the patients the choice of how much knowledge they want, rather than leaving it to doctors.

And by the way, there is another powerful reason that some parents might choose to have the test and gain the advance knowledge, other than Mr. Will’s prediction that they will have an abortion. Parents may want to know in advance in order to prepare themselves for the enormous challenges of caring for a disabled child, and to absorb the news so that, by the time their baby is born, he or she can be welcomed with joy.