to provide some context, in light of my criticisms of this data, i found that one study suggests that 10% of parents with a child diagnosed with cleft palate/lip terminate the pregnancy. this doesn't suggest "many many".
>>Here is one for cleft lip.
>>The birthrate of babies with cleft lip fell between 1982-1992 from 820 to
>>464 per year and the birth of babiese with Talipes (legs are not
>>straight) fell from 2041 to 747.
--i can't judge this data in the absence of other data. did all birth defects fall at a similar rate or just those that are detectable prenatally? do you know the causes of the decline?
--are these rates, as in per 1000 live births+ still born? or are these a subcategory comparing number of cleft lip births to 1000 CA births + still births?
--are cleft lips the only problem, or was it part of, say, Roberts-SC phocomelia syndrome which generally results in infant death?
--rates also change according to the number of women of child bearing age in the population. a rate can go down simply because that number changes.
--is this b/c of the UK health system, where they judge an abortion less expensive than the surgery?
--were this in the US, wouldn't it be less expensive to have an abortion since it's cheaper to abort than to have a child and pay for the surgery. this does not necessarily translate into disrepect for the disabled.
http://www.freelists.org/archives/tri-med/05-2001/msg00231.html