Natalie Murdoch was thirty-four when she and her husband, Richard Meyer, conceived their second child. During the second trimester, an amniocentesis test revealed that their unborn child had Down syndrome—a chromosomal abnormality resulting in mild to severe physical and mental disabilities. With no way to predict the extent of these handicaps, the couple made an emotionally wrenching decision to terminate the pregnancy.

According to prenatal screening expert Eva Alberman, 92 percent of women who discover they are carrying a fetus affected by Down syndrome choose to have an abortion. Most feel that they are unequipped to take on the emotional and financial strain of raising a severely disabled child. As Natalie and Richard explain, “A seriously handicapped child takes a lot from your life that you wouldn’t otherwise have to give. . . . We knew that a Down child would require, at best, constant care from us, and that would take a great deal away from [our other child].”

Many abortion opponents and advocates for the disabled strongly denounce such decisions to abort deformed or handicapped fetuses. Gregg Cunningham, director of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform, contends that “Of the 250,000 Americans currently living with Down’s Syndrome, most score in the ‘mild to moderate’ range of mental retardation, and most can learn to read, hold jobs, and live independently. Ought they to have been executed"” In response to those who claim that they would be unable to raise a handicapped child, Cunningham counters that there is a waiting list of parents who wish to adopt seriously disabled or retarded newborns. Cunningham and many other abortion critics agree that no handicap or genetic defect ever justifies abortion.

Some pro-choice advocates grant that the decision to abort a disabled fetus is ethically questionable. Others point out, however, that some fetal defects are so severe that the mother’s life would be threatened if she were to carry the pregnancy to term. The question of whether congenital defects or any other circumstances justify abortion is the sub