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Last month, Richard Dawkins offered this tweet about a hypothetical fetus with Down syndrome: “Abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice.”
If nothing else, Dawkins’ view was clear. But there is Zen clarity and Molotov clarity, and Dawkins’ tweet — with its flammable mix of abortion, God, atheism, disability, pregnancy and uncompromising moral judgment — leaned toward the latter. The resulting online firestorm, with extra gasoline subsequently ladled out by Dawkins himself (including an apology later featured on a blog called Terrible Apologies), is still smoldering.
Bioethicists have analyzed Dawkins’ logic (gappy), and Down syndrome researchers have examined the empirical basis for his views (thin to none). So we can now move on. Yes?
Well, for parents like me (my younger daughter, Laura, has Down syndrome), this stuff never really goes away. As a social media event, the Dawkins kerfuffle was fleeting, soon replaced by celebrity nudes; as a conversation, though, it offers a glimpse of a larger question: How do “we” — that is...