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The 2nd "best" country in that under-5 mortality list is Iceland who recently made headlines for having basically eradicated Down Syndrome via abortion. I'm no

The 2nd "best" country in that under-5 mortality list is Iceland who recently made headlines for having basically eradicated Down Syndrome via abortion. I'm not here to take a stance for or against abortion, but surely the kind of cultural differences that lead to aborting 100% of Down Syndrome babies also affects things like infant and mother mortality.

ars 9y ago
You are implying that Iceland is killing all possibly unhealthy children, in order to have good stats on infant mortality. Maybe a new stat is needed: Conception rate vs alive at 30 days rate. Although it will probably be hard to track early (<90 days) miscarriages.
- Consultant32452 9y ago
  I'm skeptical of that "in order to" because it implies they're consciously trying to win some competition or something. But yes, I do think Iceland and perhaps other nations' attitudes towards abortion will greatly impact things like their infant mortality stats.
  - jquery 9y ago
    Maybe they could improve their 5-year survival rates by allowing infanticide in the first year after birth?
    - Consultant32452 9y ago
      Can we bump that number up a bit? There's a few 25 year olds I'd like to abort.
      - jquery 9y ago
        That would improve life expectancy significantly, now you're thinking holistically.
kaitai 9y ago
Moms dying of high blood pressure is pretty different than a healthy kid with Down Syndrome being born. The percentage of Down Syndrome kids who don't survive to age 1 is less than 7% in the US. Down Syndrome is not a contributer to maternal mortality, either. It sounds like you're interested in having a different discussion. Perhaps a discussion that you'd be interested in that is also related to maternal mortality (the topic of the article) is that abortion is currently safer than giving birth in the US. Or we could discuss the fact that in US jurisprudence and medical practice, infant survival is privileged over maternal survival.
- Consultant32452 9y ago
  First of all, I was responding to a link to data on infant mortality in the US compared to other nations. If you have a problem with that topic being discussed in the context of this article, please go complain to the GP. Secondly, I did not imply that Down Syndrome is a significant cause of infant or maternal mortality. I suggested there might be a correlation between the type of culture that would abort 100% of Down Syndrome babies and low infant mortality rates. Essentially, Iceland might be aborting more of their unhealthy babies relative to the US, which would make them look better in that particular statistic.
tobltobs 9y ago
Iceland has come close to eradicating Down syndrome because approximately _six_ women per year who found their unborn child had a down syndrom decided to have an abortion. I am not sure your theory stands the test for statistical significance.

ars 9y ago

You are implying that Iceland is killing all possibly unhealthy children, in order to have good stats on infant mortality. Maybe a new stat is needed: Conception rate vs alive at 30 days rate. Although it will probably be hard to track early (<90 days) miscarriages.

Consultant32452 9y ago
I'm skeptical of that "in order to" because it implies they're consciously trying to win some competition or something. But yes, I do think Iceland and perhaps other nations' attitudes towards abortion will greatly impact things like their infant mortality stats.
- jquery 9y ago
  Maybe they could improve their 5-year survival rates by allowing infanticide in the first year after birth?
  - Consultant32452 9y ago
    Can we bump that number up a bit? There's a few 25 year olds I'd like to abort.
    - jquery 9y ago
      That would improve life expectancy significantly, now you're thinking holistically.

kaitai 9y ago

Moms dying of high blood pressure is pretty different than a healthy kid with Down Syndrome being born. The percentage of Down Syndrome kids who don't survive to age 1 is less than 7% in the US. Down Syndrome is not a contributer to maternal mortality, either. It sounds like you're interested in having a different discussion. Perhaps a discussion that you'd be interested in that is also related to maternal mortality (the topic of the article) is that abortion is currently safer than giving birth in the US. Or we could discuss the fact that in US jurisprudence and medical practice, infant survival is privileged over maternal survival.

Consultant32452 9y ago
First of all, I was responding to a link to data on infant mortality in the US compared to other nations. If you have a problem with that topic being discussed in the context of this article, please go complain to the GP. Secondly, I did not imply that Down Syndrome is a significant cause of infant or maternal mortality. I suggested there might be a correlation between the type of culture that would abort 100% of Down Syndrome babies and low infant mortality rates. Essentially, Iceland might be aborting more of their unhealthy babies relative to the US, which would make them look better in that particular statistic.

tobltobs 9y ago

Iceland has come close to eradicating Down syndrome because approximately _six_ women per year who found their unborn child had a down syndrom decided to have an abortion. I am not sure your theory stands the test for statistical significance.