{"id":305175,"date":"2024-01-16T16:48:37","date_gmt":"2024-01-16T22:48:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=305175"},"modified":"2024-01-15T21:01:04","modified_gmt":"2024-01-16T03:01:04","slug":"mass-aborting-babies-down-syndrome-eugenics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/mass-aborting-babies-down-syndrome-eugenics\/","title":{"rendered":"Mass aborting of babies with Down syndrome amounts to eugenics"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(National Review<\/a>) The\u00a0New York Times\u2019<\/em>\u00a0\u201cThe Ethicist\u201d column this week features a would-be father asking if prenatal testing for conditions such as Down syndrome amounts to eugenics. The answer, predictably, is no.\u00a0From the column<\/a>:<\/p>\n

None of these scenarios are morally troublesome, in my view, and none are naturally described as a matter of eugenics; they involve nothing like compulsion and aren\u2019t aimed at raising the \u201cquality\u201d of the human gene pool. The same applies to you. You\u2019re not hoping to affect our common genetic stock (people with Down syndrome rarely have children, though the rate of Down syndrome in their children is quite high when they do). What you are considering, then, isn\u2019t a eugenic choice.<\/em><\/p>\n

This is too narrow a view of what constitutes eugenics. Eugenics is more than trying to control the health or other attributes of a general population. Rather, it reflects an all-too-commonly promoted mindset that some people are better or have greater value than others, and that an acceptable answer is to make sure disfavored persons are never conceived \u2014 as in the old eugenics of the early 20th century \u2014 or never make it out of the womb as occurs today (or even, serving as a justification for infanticide as justified by utilitarians like Peter Singer).<\/p>\n

But certainly, The Ethicist is correct that prenatal testing, per se, is\u00a0not<\/em>\u00a0eugenics. Indeed, it can be a splendid way to reveal the need for prenatal treatments or to allow parents time to prepare for a child with special needs.<\/p>\n

But prenatal testing\u00a0can<\/em>\u00a0also be used for eugenics purposes, such as sex selection abortion or the extinguishment of babies with Down, dwarfism, even cleft palate, in the womb. Indeed, many\u00a0genetic counselors push parents<\/a>\u00a0whose gestating baby tests positive for Down or other genetic conditions to abort. That\u2019s eugenics, at least broadly understood. And it doesn\u2019t matter that the government isn\u2019t forcing the issue.<\/p>\n

Some countries push (but do not require) universal prenatal testing at least implicitly for that explicit purpose. In\u00a0Iceland<\/a>\u00a0and Denmark, for example, Down syndrome has been nearly eliminated because almost all such babies are aborted. If that isn\u2019t eugenic cleansing, I don\u2019t know what is.<\/p>\n

At least The Ethicist mounted a modest defense of people with Down:<\/p>\n

It\u2019s important to distinguish between rational worries about your children\u2019s future and anxieties that reflect prejudice against people with disabilities. It isn\u2019t unreasonable to worry about having a child who can\u2019t have a long and rewarding life. But that\u2019s simply not true of most people with Down syndrome. Parents of children with Down syndrome have written at length, and often hearteningly, about their experiences. Before you decide to terminate a pregnancy on this score, make sure your decision is genuinely informed.<\/em><\/p>\n

The mass aborting of babies with Down\u00a0is one of the tragedies of our age<\/a>. And if you doubt that, consider the difference between the number of people with Down fifty years ago compared with today. We are the poorer as a society that so many of these wonderful, loving people are denied their birth.<\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was published at National Review<\/a> and is reprinted here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

The DOJ put a pro-life grandmother in jail this Christmas for protesting the killing of preborn children. Please take 30-seconds to TELL CONGRESS: STOP THE DOJ FROM TARGETING PRO-LIFE AMERICANS.<\/i><\/b><\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(National Review) The\u00a0New York Times\u2019\u00a0\u201cThe Ethicist\u201d column this week features a would-be father asking if prenatal testing for conditions such as Down syndrome amounts to eugenics. The answer, predictably, is no.\u00a0From the column: None of these scenarios are morally troublesome, in my view, and none are naturally described as a matter of eugenics; they involve […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":349,"featured_media":285583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nMass aborting of babies with Down syndrome amounts to eugenics<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Many\u00a0genetic counselors push parents\u00a0whose gestating baby tests positive for Down or other genetic conditions to abort. 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