Thinking to Believe

It’s commonly said that 90% of all unborn babies with Down Syndrome are aborted.  This statistic is offered by both conservatives and liberals alike.  Fortunately, it’s based on a misunderstanding of the data.  Studies have shown that approximately 90% of women who undergo an amniocentesis diagnostic test and are told that their baby has Down Syndrome end up aborting the baby (which is not surprising considering the fact that this is the second test for the disease, is invasive, and carries a risk of killing the baby.  It stands to reason that women willing to undergo the procedure do so because they want to be sure that their child has Down Syndrome before they kill him/her).  In other words, the people who undergo amniocentesis are more likely to abort a baby with Down Syndrome than those who do not, but only ~2% of pregnant women undergo amniocentesis.  When you consider all women pregnant with a baby suffering from Down Syndrome, the abortion rate is estimated to be somewhere between 1/3 to 1/2.  That is still way too much, but not nearly as bad as 90%.