"Playing God" has gotten easier over the centuries . . .

This WashPost op/ed (hat tip Bobbie Patray) about abortion and Down's Syndrome children made me think about how advances in technology and medicine, in particular, have fed our hunger to control our lives . . . essentially, we feel more capable of scripting our lives; but the problem is that our desire to avert pain or discomfort at most any cost to others can delude us. Abortion for example, may not be as starkly cruel as throwing a less-than-perfect newborn in a trashcan, but is it substantively different?