I know from my profession that the contraceptive pill is often administered preventively in institutions. I also have clients who have a mental handicap (not Down syndrome), who have children and those children are more (mentally) handicapped than their parents. I know that Down syndrome is an abnormality of the chromosomes and there is one more. From that I deduced that someone with the syndrome cannot reproduce with someone without Down, but if they have sex together, can a child result?
Answer
Women with Down syndrome are normally fertile. They also start menstruating at about the same age as “normal” women. So they can have children just like all other women. They cannot have children from a man with Down syndrome, because men with Down syndrome are usually (if not always) infertile.
Answered by
Ann Geens
biology, biomedical sciences
Rijvisschestraat 120 9052 Ghent
http://www.biotechnology.be
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