{"id":309717,"date":"2024-04-05T16:44:51","date_gmt":"2024-04-05T21:44:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=309717"},"modified":"2024-04-05T10:09:43","modified_gmt":"2024-04-05T15:09:43","slug":"eugenics-arguments-abortion-pill-supreme-court","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/eugenics-arguments-abortion-pill-supreme-court\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Racist undertones\u2019: Pro-eugenics arguments submitted in Supreme Court abortion pill case"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A declaration submitted to the U.S. Supreme Court in the abortion pill lawsuit recently argued<\/a> before the Court has come under scrutiny, with some noting that its abortion-favorable contents make arguments in line with a eugenics-based worldview.<\/p>\n

In a written declaration<\/a> submitted in the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine (AHM)<\/em> lawsuit, professor Jason Lindo, an economics professor at Texas A&M University<\/a>, described himself as an “expert in the field of economics, policy evaluation, and reproductive health care.” Lindo suggested in his declaration that if pregnant women are denied access to the abortion pill, they will potentially give birth to children who are likely to “do worse in school” or see an “increased likelihood of criminal involvement,\u201d among other ills.<\/p>\n

This idea is not new. It’s simply a recycling of pro-eugenics<\/em> talking points. Eugenics is the belief that the human race can be improved by selective breeding… or, as has been seen more frequently throughout history, by selective elimination.<\/p>\n

Decades ago, when the abortion pill was first brought to the United States, a man connected to the star attorney who argued in favor of Roe v. Wade<\/em> made the exact same arguments, recommending at the time that President Bill Clinton should strive to \u201celiminate\u201d certain segments of society via vasectomies, tubal ligations, abortions, and the RU-486 abortion pill, now known as mifepristone.<\/p>\n

Expert promotes eugenic ideas in Court declaration<\/strong><\/p>\n

“My research interests include health economics and issues concerning youth, including the economic effects of abortion and contraceptive policies. My recent and ongoing work is especially focused on documenting the effects of changes in access to reproductive healthcare,” Lindo wrote.<\/p>\n

\"Professor

Professor Jason Lindo (Image credit: Texas A+M University)<\/p><\/div>\n

“For those who have delayed abortions, the financial consequences can be devastating because: (i) a large share of individuals seeking abortion have low incomes,” Lindo claimed. “Individuals report seeking abortions for many different reasons and combinations of reasons. The most frequently cited reasons, which have substantial overlap, include: financial insecurity, poor timing and\/or not being ready, educational and career plans, problems associated with their partners, concerns about their existing children, and concerns about health that would arise from continuing the pregnancy.”<\/p>\n

“Given the large number of abortion patients who have medication abortions [abortion pill] and their clearly articulated needs and\/or informed reasons for doing so, removing medication abortion as an option would represent a shift that is substantially detrimental to a very large share of individuals seeking abortions,” he added.<\/p>\n

This is where Lindo exposes his eugenic ideology by suggesting that abortion (the intentional killing of preborn children) will solve the ills of poor children \u2014 because if their mothers cannot obtain abortions, their children will do worse in school, exhibit bad behaviors, and potentially end up as criminals.<\/p>\n

\"Jason

Jason Lindo abortion pill declaration suggests eugenics<\/p><\/div>\n

“Rigorous quantitative research also indicates that there will be extensive effects on the children of people who seek but are unable to obtain an abortion. As a result of the impacts on their parents, these children are expected to do worse in school (lower test scores and increased grade repetition), to have more behavioral and social issues, and ultimately to attain lower levels of completed education. They are also expected to have lower earnings as adults, poorer health, and an increased likelihood of criminal involvement,” the economics professor wrote.<\/p>\n

Lindo has made these claims before, suggesting to NPR<\/a> that “there are detrimental effects” on the outcomes of kids whose mothers are denied or delayed from obtaining an abortion.<\/p>\n

“When they grow up, they’re less likely to attain higher education themselves, they’re more likely to be involved in crime, have lower adult earnings,” Lindo claimed.<\/p>\n

It should be noted that the much-touted Turnaway Study, which purports to claim that women are harmed by an inability to obtain abortion, has been debunked and is riddled with methodological flaws<\/a>, not the least<\/em> of which is the fact that by the final year of the study, only 17% of the original 877 participants remained in the study (approximately 150 women).<\/p>\n

Eugenics and abortion pill history<\/strong><\/p>\n

The abortion pill was originally referred to as RU-486 (\u201cRU\u201d for\u00a0Roussel-Uclaf<\/a>, the French manufacturer of the pill, and \u201c486\u201d for the drug\u2019s serial number). The company which developed RU-486 also had connections<\/a> to the company which created the gas used to exterminate Jews in the Holocaust.<\/p>\n

A 1999 report<\/a> by the New York Times revealed that Roussel-Uclaf\u2019s parent company, Hoechst A.G. of Germany, \u201cwas one of three corporations that emerged from the breakup of I.G. Farben<\/a>, the German chemical company that manufactured the cyanide gas, Zyklon B, for Nazi death camps\u2026.\u201d<\/p>\n

Author Robert J. Lifton noted in his book, “The Nazi Doctors: Medical Killing and the Psychology of Genocide<\/span><\/a>,” that \u201cThe use of poison gas\u2026 Zyklon-B was the technological achievement permitting \u2018humane killing.’\u201d<\/p>\n

And RU-486 was following in that eugenics vein.<\/p>\n