The two young hearing couple, vibrant and excited with the news that the wife is along three weeks pregnant. Hopeful that their first child will turn out fine just like all soon-to-be Moms and Dads would hope for. A healthy baby. But they have a nagging concern about their baby. They are apprehensive about the prospect that their child may carry the deafness gene and be born with a hearing loss. Their concerns are rightly noted since both of their parents and grandparents have a history of genetic deafness with a nasty habit of skipping around within each new generation. What makes this even more troublesome for the parents is that both the wife and husband each carry the deafness gene. And they discovered recently that there is high probability that their child would be born profoundly deaf.
With help of biotechnology genetic deafness can easily and quickly be determined in an embryo and with that valuable information the couple can prepare themselves the decision on whether to keep the baby or abort it. Genetic results for embryos are de riguer. So is giving out abortion pills. Doled out like Halloween treats but the consequences of swallowing that pill comes with a terrible cost to the unborn.
The genetic results came in.
Not good.
Their doctor confirmed that their baby if carried to term will be born profoundly deaf in both ears.
The wife wept quietly with a soft sobbing sound at the prospect of giving birth to a completely deaf baby. Her husband wrapped his arms around her and hugs her softly in a shared solace.
The doctor continues with the news and gave them two choices. Keep the baby or the wife can take an abortion pill to help abort their three week old embryo. With the new law in place a final decision cannot be accepted until three days after being informed of the choices. The doctor also warns that because the husband and wife both carry the deafness gene they have a 10% chance of producing a child with full hearing the next time they try and conceive another child. That means after 10 conceptions 1 baby will be born with full hearing.
Three days later. The wife decides to take the abortion pill to abort the embryo diagnosed with the deafness gene. The doctor nods his head and gives her a single white pill, easy to swallow pill. Her hands trembles seeing the white dot of a pill sitting in the middle of her right palm knowing that the pill would end a precious life. She grabs a glass of water and quickly swallowed the abortion pill. She cries and sobs. She made the decision to end a life and, in her mind, to spare a child's lifelong dealing with deafness that she finds cruel, unnecessary and unwanted.
They will try again for another baby very soon. Even if it means doing it 10 times until they get what they want.
From the NIH see graph below (SOURCE):
