{"id":263831,"date":"2022-03-05T11:43:50","date_gmt":"2022-03-05T17:43:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=263831"},"modified":"2022-03-04T00:45:40","modified_gmt":"2022-03-04T06:45:40","slug":"bioethicist-defends-infanticide-born-preborn","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/bioethicist-defends-infanticide-born-preborn\/","title":{"rendered":"Bioethicist defends infanticide, claiming there is no difference between born and preborn babies"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(National Review<\/a>) The core problem with contemporary bioethics is that the movement denies human exceptionalism. In this view, being human is morally irrelevant. What matters are\u00a0capacities<\/em>, such as the ability to value one\u2019s life, which make one a \u201cperson.\u201d<\/p>\n

Under personhood theory, there is such a thing as\u00a0a human non-person and an animal-person<\/a><\/span>.\u00a0This view\u00a0has been applied repeatedly<\/a>\u00a0in bioethics discourse to justify infanticide, most (in)famously by Peter Singer. It\u2019s not the unanimous view, to be sure. But it is within the bioethics mainstream. Indeed, the very fact that killing babies is considered a respectable subject for discussion tells us all we need to know about the morality of bioethical discourse.<\/p>\n

In our current episode of let\u2019s-allow-baby-killing, an Australian bioethicist named Walter Veit comes to the defense of infanticide proponents who claimed there is no moral difference between late term fetuses and newborn babies. Veit claims that the morality of how we treat children should be judged no differently than how we access animal welfare.\u00a0From \u201cDoes Birth Matter?<\/a>\u201d<\/p>\n

Animal welfare researchers have long recognised that animal ethics detached from our knowledge of biological science is at best ill-informed and at worst harmful. Cases involving humans should not be treated any differently.<\/em><\/p>\n

In other words, the ethics of treating a rat or a zebra fish will be different from a chimp because of their differing capacities. Veit thinks the treatment of humans should be judged in the same fashion, meaning that there is no inherent dignity to a human life that must be respected (sometimes called the \u201cquality of life ethic\u201d).<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Abortion advocate claims to be pro-child while arguing for the \u2018unwanted\u2019 to die<\/em><\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

And since there is no clear biological distinction between a late-term fetus and a born baby, it is okay to kill away:<\/p>\n

If the biological sciences reveal that there is no morally salient difference between a newborn and a fetus, that is, that they are almost at the same developmental stage, one must abolish the intuitively compelling idea that birth matters morally. It doesn\u2019t.<\/em><\/p>\n

Veit argues that the \u201cinherent wrongness of abortion\u201d must be rejected. Otherwise, terminations will all be outlawed, as has been attempted in Poland:<\/p>\n

But this is precisely what moves religious groups such as those in Poland to frighteningly go ahead and attempt to outlaw all abortions. The biological facts about the physiology of the fetus are pushed aside in favour of an intuition about the moral wrongness of abortion. . . . Their arguments fail to demarcate a morally salient difference shortly before and shortly after birth.<\/em><\/p>\n

Huh. And here we have always been told that abortion is justified by the autonomy of the pregnant woman controlling her body.<\/p>\n

But a born baby isn\u2019t in anyone\u2019s body. Hence, the argument being made here is for a\u00a0right not to be a parent<\/em>\u00a0based on the baby\u2019s similar capacities and equal disposability of a fetus.<\/p>\n

And if we can kill humans before they become persons, why not also if they lose these capacities through illness, injury, or age? Why not the “right not to be a spouse\u201d or \u201cthe child of an incapacitated adult?\u201d Indeed, isn\u2019t that the very kind of demise Michael Schiavo imposed on Terri under the pretense of ceasing unwanted medical treatment?<\/p>\n

Closer to the point,\u00a046 Senate Democrats<\/a>\u00a0just voted to legally require the availability of abortion to the moment of birth. Veit and many in bioethics would insist this should also mean access to infanticide. Come to think of it, so did former\u00a0Virginia governor Ralph Northam<\/a>, at least via neglect after birth. And what would stop that widening of the killable caste once the Democrats got their way?<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s the bottom line: Once human life is denigrated as morally irrelevant, what difference\u00a0does<\/em>\u00a0birth make? The question answers itself.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: This article was originally published at\u00a0National Review<\/a>\u00a0and is reprinted here with permission.\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(National Review) The core problem with contemporary bioethics is that the movement denies human exceptionalism. In this view, being human is morally irrelevant. What matters are\u00a0capacities, such as the ability to value one\u2019s life, which make one a \u201cperson.\u201d Under personhood theory, there is such a thing as\u00a0a human non-person and an animal-person.\u00a0This view\u00a0has been […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":349,"featured_media":222129,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,3473,3],"tags":[16108,9851,27,6179,2919,2517,4087,16107],"yoast_head":"\nBioethicist defends infanticide, claiming there is no difference between born and preborn babies<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A bioethicist comes to the defense of infanticide proponents who claim there is no moral difference between late-term fetuses and newborn babies.\" \/>\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\/bioethicist-defends-infanticide-born-preborn\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bioethicist defends infanticide, claiming there is no difference between born and preborn babies\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A bioethicist comes to the defense of infanticide proponents who claim there is no moral difference between late-term fetuses and newborn babies.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/bioethicist-defends-infanticide-born-preborn\/\" \/>\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=\"2022-03-05T17:43:50+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-03-04T06:45:40+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/04\/GettyImages-1193318194-newborn.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1195\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"651\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Wesley J. 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