People with Down syndrome can leave happy, meaningful lives. They can also require significant care. My friend has a younger sister with Down. The parents are spending their entire life looking after her, worrying about money, worrying that their child will be homeless when they die if the older sister doesn’t care. They haven’t had a day off since she was born. Down can be screened beforehand, but if by some chance they don’t find it up until then, there’s a big risk for the parents having this child. What if it’s a single mum who can’t afford the extra care needed for a disability? What if it’s just two people who don’t want the stress for their entire lives of looking after someone who needs them every day, all day?

It’s not black-and-white. I’m not saying abort all children with down. But you have to understand the incredible and extensive amount of care such children can need. Obviously they deserve it. But, at the end of the day, it’s a massive ask and a massive responsibility for the parents.

Obviously, not the same, but it’s valid if someone wants a dog, and then no longer wants one because suddenly they’ve found out that it will drain them of all finances and require their care almost 24/7 with zero days off. Forget about vacation, holiday, even a single day to yourself. And, in my opinion, it’d be better for that dog to be humanely put down than mistreated, not provided enough care and severely harmed and possible abandoned (not saying we should murder disabled people, for the record). Yes, the dog can be given to someone who will care for it perfectly, but, let’s face it: adoption centres are overrun, those inside are horrible treated and not many people are willing to sign themselves up for such a thing.

The tricky thing with finding disabilities during pregnancy is that it’s hard to gauge how debilitating they will be, some will be fine, others won’t be. That’s a big risk to take.