TERMINATION

One of the confronting questions in my entire humanity is that why God has allowed infirmities in His creations. Well, such questions can draw lots of answers depending on whom you are speaking to. Religious would say that it is for those who have infirmities to be strong. On the part of medicine, infirmities of whatever kinds have been explained in scientific way dealing with experiments, researches and other scientific methods. Well, what I am supposed to deal in this blog is the so called Down syndrome which is an infirmity of both physical and psychological in nature and is confronting not only the one inflicted with it but the society as a whole.

What is Down syndrome? Medically speaking, Down syndrome is a kind of chromosomal aberration in which the genetic make up of a human being is disrupted. It is evidenced by the duplication of chromosome 21 where physical and mental abnormalities are manifested by the person inflicted with it. People with this condition can hardly contribute to his community as they are said to be slow learner. But looking and analyzing them critically, we can say that they are even greater than normal human beings as they are very much talented. For the cure of this medical condition, it is still on the process of research. But how can we eradicate this societal scar as some would call it in our society?

One of the practices about this medical condition is the so called termination wherein a part of the ameotic fluid is examined in the laboratory. Such fluid is the one accompanying the baby while it is still in the mother’s womb. The ameotic fluid carries with it the genetic make up of the baby wherein one can see if the chromosome 21 is duplicated or not. The intriguing question about this medical process is if it is indeed found out that there is such duplication in the fetus’ genetic make up would it mean the termination of the life that is in the mother’s womb and will result to abortion?

Medical procedures can be viewed in two aspects; the good and the bad. The good point of view of medicine is that it can heal or can even survive life as a whole. On the other hand, the other side of medicine is that it can also eradicate life through euthanasia, abortion and other practices which as a Catholic nation can be unacceptable to us Filipinos.

Our views about Down syndrome can be affected by lot of factors but foremost is the family’s economic situation. Accept it or not, a family with member of such genetic aberration entails much expense, emotional bearings and the like. But great is the honor that should be given to families who have less in life but able to manage or survive a member with physical or psychological infirmities. Also, for this great respect should be also given to mothers who have able to bring their children in this world even knowing that such is inflicted with infirmities.