{"id":24733,"date":"2013-02-24T13:54:01","date_gmt":"2013-02-24T18:54:01","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=24733"},"modified":"2013-02-25T11:20:08","modified_gmt":"2013-02-25T16:20:08","slug":"the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/","title":{"rendered":"The terrible consequences of forced abortion of the disabled"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

U.K. Independence Party (UKIP) candidate Geoffrey Clarke<\/a> recently sparked outrage by calling for the forced abortions of unborn children diagnosed with Down syndrome, spina bifida, or any \u201csimilar syndrome which, if it is born, will render the child a burden on the state<\/a> as well as on the family.\u201d UKIP suspended him<\/a>, and Clarke apologized, saying that he expressed his views poorly and does not believe in compulsory abortion. Whether he does or doesn\u2019t, there are plenty of people worldwide who do believe that children with disabilities should be eliminated before birth.<\/p>\n

In fact, eugenics in America is nothing new. It\u2019s long been thought by many people from Margaret Sanger to Theodore Roosevelt<\/a> that certain people are a burden on society. Over history, target groups have included the poor, African-Americans, and people with disabilities. In the past, the solutions offered were birth control and forced sterilization. Over time, abortion has become a go-to solution for weeding out the supposed undesirables.<\/p>\n

\"ChildrenChildren with disabilities – or, as Clarke referred to them, \u201cmalformed\u201d people – are often considered unworthy of life. For example, in 1967<\/a>, the American Medical Association endorsed the abortions of any unborn humans who \u201cmay be born with incapacitate physical deformities or mental deficiency.\u201d This use of abortion was made legal in a number of states prior to Roe v. Wade<\/em>.<\/p>\n

But no matter how socially acceptable this sort of negative eugenics may become, it is dangerous to society and individuals for many reasons.<\/p>\n

Violations of Human Rights<\/strong><\/p>\n

Right to a Family: Forcing or even pushing parents to kill their own child because that child is different is a violation of the parents\u2019 right to a family and right to reproduce. These rights are very different, but they are obviously connected. By denying those parents their child, the government wouldn\u2019t just be denying those parents the right to procreate no matter who their child may be, but they would be denying the parents the right to love their child and the right to be loved by that child.<\/p>\n

Right to Life: Of course, forced abortions of children with disabilities also denies those humans the right to life. It is not at all different from China\u2019s one-child policy, which forces sterilization and abortion upon women even into the ninth month of pregnancy. In China and India, girls are aborted just for being girls. In America, people with Down syndrome are aborted just for having Down syndrome. Both are violations of rights; both are unacceptable. There is no difference.<\/p>\n

Discrimination<\/strong><\/p>\n

In a country where compulsory abortions are legal based on genetic factors and characteristics, who would decide which of these characteristics are ideal and acceptable for life? Is this something a society can regulate? Can a government truly distinguish among the variety of genetic conditions diagnosed before birth, from Down syndrome to sickle cell anemia, from cerebral palsy to cystic fibrosis, and decide which ones require abortion? What if there were prenatal tests for sexual orientation, future obesity, or future cancer? Could the government then regulate which of these people are allowed to be born? There isn\u2019t a line that can be drawn between one genetic trait and another declaring which is worthy of life. It is an undeniable act of discrimination on the part of the government.<\/p>\n

Loss of Equality<\/strong><\/p>\n

Abortion based on genetic characteristics is the same as murder based on genetic characteristics. (Think Hitler.) The forced abortions of children with disabilities would divide society into classes \u2013 groups of people worthy of life, and groups unworthy. When we support the abortion of people with Down syndrome, we are stating that those walking among us with Down syndrome are less human than we are, that they are unfit to live. This will lead to acts of discrimination and violence against everyone with Down syndrome because they will not be seen as equal.<\/p>\n

The same will happen to those who are deaf, blind, paralyzed, or ill with any disease. Forced abortions of children with disabilities will undo all of the work done by disability advocates and send the message that different is wrong. For a country that has spent years promoting and celebrating diversity while extending helping hands to disadvantaged people around the globe, this would be a huge step backwards.<\/p>\n

Downfall of Society<\/strong><\/p>\n

The United States government already supports abortion wholeheartedly, as abortion is legal at any stage for any reason. Advances in technology to test for genetic conditions and characteristics before birth have led to support of the termination of people with disabilities by many government officials<\/a>. This has already led to uproar<\/a> in the disabled communities, as they have fought long and hard to be viewed as equal. And eugenic abortion advised for use on one group of people, while other groups are marked as preferred, means that the government believes in the elimination of certain people to create a better race, just as Hitler did. This will mark the beginning of social eugenics in America, which will spread from the womb<\/a> to the cradle<\/a> and beyond. And no one will be immune to it. This practice of social eugenics will bring on cultural unrest, acts of discrimination, hate crimes, and social divides against people viewed as different not seen since the civil rights movements of African-Americans and women.<\/p>\n

In addition, forced abortions will lead to totalitarianism, in which the government has complete power over the lives of the people. Most of us will turn a blind eye, believing that forced abortions will never exist here in the land of the free. But they can, as doctors<\/a> persuade parents to abort babies with disabilities and judges<\/a> consider forced abortion orders. Aborting the weakest among us, babies with genetic conditions, leads our country nowhere but down.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Going down, and fast.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":62,"featured_media":27252,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[3],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nThe terrible consequences of forced abortion of the disabled - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The terrible consequences of forced abortion of the disabled - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Going down, and fast.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-02-24T18:54:01+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2013-02-25T16:20:08+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/3d-ultrasound-fetus-baby1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"360\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"275\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Nancy Flanders\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Nancy Flanders\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"5 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Nancy Flanders\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef\"},\"headline\":\"The terrible consequences of forced abortion of the disabled\",\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-24T18:54:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-25T16:20:08+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/\"},\"wordCount\":971,\"commentCount\":2,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"Opinion\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/\",\"name\":\"The terrible consequences of forced abortion of the disabled - Live Action News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2013-02-24T18:54:01+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2013-02-25T16:20:08+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"The terrible consequences of forced abortion of the disabled\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef\",\"name\":\"Nancy Flanders\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Nancy Flanders\"},\"description\":\"Nancy Flanders is Associate Editor for Live Action News. She has 25 years of experience writing and editing. For more than a decade, she has focused her work on pro-life issues through human interest stories and political issues regarding abortion and physician-assisted death as well as research articles and op-eds dismantling the lies of the pro-abortion, pro-death agenda. Her work has appeared in Catholic Digest, Pregnancy Help News, and a variety of other publications.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/nancy\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"The terrible consequences of forced abortion of the disabled - Live Action News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"The terrible consequences of forced abortion of the disabled - Live Action News","og_description":"Going down, and fast.","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2013-02-24T18:54:01+00:00","article_modified_time":"2013-02-25T16:20:08+00:00","og_image":[{"width":360,"height":275,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/3d-ultrasound-fetus-baby1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Nancy Flanders","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Nancy Flanders","Est. reading time":"5 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/"},"author":{"name":"Nancy Flanders","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef"},"headline":"The terrible consequences of forced abortion of the disabled","datePublished":"2013-02-24T18:54:01+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-25T16:20:08+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/"},"wordCount":971,"commentCount":2,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"articleSection":["Opinion"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/","name":"The terrible consequences of forced abortion of the disabled - Live Action News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2013-02-24T18:54:01+00:00","dateModified":"2013-02-25T16:20:08+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/the-terrible-consequences-of-forced-abortion-of-the-disabled\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"The terrible consequences of forced abortion of the disabled"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/d61ca3dd1aacf12635bdf71d75c328ef","name":"Nancy Flanders","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/dee54060bdc22fdfbf36d946b3026cca?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Nancy Flanders"},"description":"Nancy Flanders is Associate Editor for Live Action News. She has 25 years of experience writing and editing. For more than a decade, she has focused her work on pro-life issues through human interest stories and political issues regarding abortion and physician-assisted death as well as research articles and op-eds dismantling the lies of the pro-abortion, pro-death agenda. Her work has appeared in Catholic Digest, Pregnancy Help News, and a variety of other publications.","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/nancy\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24733"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/62"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=24733"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/24733\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/27252"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=24733"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=24733"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=24733"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}