(Newswire.net — August 25, 2015) — Republicans sponsoring House Bill 131, are behind Ohio’s plan to ban abortions of fetuses diagnosed with Down syndrome.
After fetal diagnosis of Down syndrome, most of the woman in the US choose to abort the pregnancy, rather than give birth to a child with limited capabilities. While Ohio lawmakers consider prohibition of such a choice, pro-abortion activists demonstrate for their rights, MSNBC reported.
Republican lawmakers behind House Bill 131 quoted a national medical study that shows 90 percent of the cases with early Down syndrome diagnosis end with abortion.
“The idea is just because somebody is handicapped we don’t want to put them to death,” state representative John Becker told CNN. “The pro-life movement really means pro-life for all innocent human life.”
Another sponsor of the bill, Rep. Sarah LaTourette, stated, “Choosing to end a person’s life simply because of this diagnosis is discrimination, period,” adding that it is not a question of abortion but discrimination.
LaTourette stated, “Discriminating against a person, not allowing them their God-given right to life, simply because they might have Down syndrome.”
Both, people and scientists have divided opinions as to whether an embryo is a person or not. According to psychologists, a fetus becomes a person after it gains minimal awareness. It would seem as if even newborn babies might not be considered as persons according to the Philosopher Mary Ann Warren, who fights for the ‘moral’ right of a woman to have an abortion. According to her, a fetus is not a person because a person has the following characteristics:
1. A developed capacity for reasoning
2. Self-awareness
3.Consciousness and ability to feel pain
4. Self-motivated activity
5. Capacity to communicate messages of an indefinite variety of types.
Mary Ann Warren has been heavily disputed by religious groups, stating that every person has a soul, and that includes fetuses.
Beside extreme points of view, some anti-abortion activists argue that probability is not the same as the certainty. Despite the fact that she was pressured to have an abortion, one Ohio anti-abortion activist stated that her diagnosis was wrong and she gave birth to a healthy child.
According to Sara Ainsworth of the National Advocates for Pregnant Women, this law if passed “would be enforceable.”
“They’re trying to encroach on the right to abortion, step by step, and turn a woman’s health care decision into an issue of discrimination against the fetus,” she said.
“Medical decisions should not be made in the Statehouse; they should be made in doctors’ offices based on sound medical science,” Kellie Copeland of NARAL Pro-Choice Ohio said in a statement, arguing that these legislative proposals “interfere with the doctor-patient relationship.”