No more Downs in Denmark!

The Danish professor Ann Tabor rejoices at the success authorities in the country are witnessing: the number of babies born with Down's syndrome is expected to continue dropping significantly in the near future.

This, a newspaper article asserts, will be due to the increasingly more common practice of offering fetal scannning early in the first trimester to expecting mothers. On the basis of the results of the scan, the mother can decide whether to keep the baby or not. And Mrs. Tabor sees no moral dilemma in the fact that women are nowadays more likely to opt for an abortion if the scan reveals she is carrying a baby that has the dreaded Down,s syndrome.

Mrs. Tabor is exultant, it seems, because less babies with Down,s means one giant benefit to the state: less costs. No need to care for unwanted citizens that may live on to see their 55th birthday. No more need to fund the existence of the deviants who trouble us all because they will forever remain a threat to our budgetary health.

In her candid remark, the professor reveals a horrifying cynicism about the value of human life. If you're not perfect, she alleges, you're not fit to live. Raising you will be too costly for the state, as the state can expect nothing in return for its money. You cannot become a productive member of society, thus you should be removed before birth, dumped in some bloodstained bucket, forever kept out of sight and out of memory.

I wonder if the professor thinks that the same policy should be adopted towards those in danger of growing up as mentally retarded or chronically ill? Because, after all, why should anyone waste money on members of society that are a 100% liability? If human beings are to be valued purely according to their potential contribution to the greater good, to the fiscal soundness of the State, then many of us will sooner or later find ourselves in the danger zone.

Because I may wind up in a wheelchair, unable to move and barely able to speak. Who will care for me, who will provide for my needs, when I can no longer pay my taxes or render to Ceasar the other things he will be claiming? Should I then be allowed to live, professor? Would you like to remove me the way you would like to see my brothers with Down's syndrome disappear?

Well, cheer up, Danes, in your quest to move higher up the scale of happiness. You may soon spot no more Downs.