by Whitney Barthel posted in Parenting

A couple years ago, with the birth of MaterniT21 and other various early screening methods, the ethics of Down syndrome and genetic testing became a hot topic for debate.

While scientist delighted in their discovery, special needs advocates and pro-lifers cringed at what getting a prenatal diagnosis so early would mean for the special needs population.
Personally, as someone with a science degree and a special-needs mother, I didn't know how to feel.
*Daniel, now 6, and me this summer. 
I wanted to believe that parents who are getting a prenatal diagnosis would be properly counseled. I hoped that those receiving a positive Down syndrome diagnosis would use it to seek live-saving medical intervention for their babies. And, I prayed that this new testing would not affect the way the world viewed having a baby with Down syndrome. It turns out, I was overly optimistic.
Now, just a few short years after the dawn of prenatal testing, the country of Iceland has nearly eradicated Down syndrome.
I hesitantly clicked on a recent article by CBS News, titled "What kind of society do you want to live in"": Inside the country where Down syndrome is disappearing.
According to the news coverage, Iceland has a population of around 330,000 people, yet only one or two babies are born with Down syndrome each year. Nearly 100 percent of babies with Down syndrome are aborted before being born.
Even now, I don't have a problem with genetic...