Defective Babies Should Be Aborted, Bio-ethicist Says

CNS News ^ | 11-25-2002 | Robert B. Bluey

[Notwithstanding]

A scholar from the National Institutes of Health says America would benefit from aborting the blind and disabled.

[drc43]

"A scholar from the National Institutes of Health says America would benefit from aborting the blind and disabled.

Well since one cannot always tell if the baby is blind or disabled till after birth, I guess that means abortion would be allowed up to what...the first month of life....the second???

What about when someone becomes blind or disable? I guess we do a post birth abortion there as well??

[Remedy]

mass liquidations of ten of millions of human beings by "progressive" atheist governments in the 20th Century.

Stand to Reason Commentary - The Real Murderers: Atheism or ...

The Holocaust and evolution

Why Communism Kills

Stalin's Brutal Faith

[EternalVigilance]

NIH? Our payroll?

He must occupy the Joseph Mengele Chair at the NIH...

[CanisMajor2002]

What about when someone becomes blind or disable? I guess we do a post birth abortion there as well??

Whoops! There goes Christopher Reeve! You can open up a whole can of irony here...

[twigs]

A database is being developed on genetic problems within families. My niece had a baby who died shortly after birth several years ago and she was asked to talk to family members and report on any known genetic problems or early deaths within the family, going back as far as she could. Even my mom, the good democrat, was chilled by the request, feeling it was not the government's business to be asking such questions.

[Alberta's Child]

I was unaware of his mother's health condition. IMO, that would GIVE him a bit of honor.

Except that the information about his mother's health condition was made public soon after he had published an article calling for the mandatory euthanization of terminally ill people.

Let's face it -- Singer is nothing but an anus with teeth and should be treated accordingly by anyone who interacts with him. The word "honor" should never be applied to anything that he does.

[GovernmentShrinker]

Right you are. And that is only one of the artificial contributors to the dysgenic trends in the human population over the past few decades. Another biggie is the heavy taxation of the competent in order to provide huge subsidies for the incompetent to have children (the ONLY thing some of them seem capable of). The competent, of course, adjust to their artificially reduced means by having fewer children.

[Grammy]

"In the last 40 years they have gone to extremes to stop and prevent miscarrages, most misscarrages have a reason and a lot of them are a result from a malformed fetus."

Not necessarily true. I have a grandson who was almost miscarried, and he is absolutely perfect. My husband was also almost miscarried and he is also perfect (well, almost, but I don't think we're talking about laundry) I know of a number of near miscarriages all of whom are NOT malformed or handicapped.

[kidd]

You missed an important one:

Rush Limbaugh - deaf, later in life, due to a genetic defect

Perhaps this "bio-ethecist" is taking a swipe at Rush? Probably not.

However, Rush has demonstrated that his problem is correctable. And America is much better off as a result of this otherwise deaf man.

[Our man in washington]

I had a conversation this past weekend that I found very disturbing. I come from a family of leftists, but I was not prepared for this one.

My sister, against the odds, is now three months pregnant at age 43. She got married to a great guy last year, so the whole family is happy.

She said she would be doing the tests to determine if the child has Down's Syndrome. If it did, she would abort.

"You know, you're far enough along that the baby--or fetus, or whatever you want to call it--is going to feel pain from abortion." I said.

"So what? It's not a person yet."

She then lamented that there were some abnormalities that the tests couldn't catch, and there was a risk she might not get a perfect baby. "After it's born" she said "I'm stuck with it." She expressed sympathy for the eskimo belief that it's not a person until it's named, which is usuallly about the fifth day. She did admit that killing after birth might lead to some problems with a slippery slope, however.

My sister is a professor at an elite university. She went to all the finest schools. I could say a hundred wonderful things about her and think of her as a caring human being.. But she didn't express any caring at all toward that separate life inside of her. How do people learn to think this way?

My theory is that feminism has treated childbearing as an achievement of the woman done for the benefit of the woman. There's some truth to that; childbearing is an achievement and should be honored.

The mistake of feminism, however, is to treat having a child as a narcissistic activity. Children are a blessing partly because they force us to focus on someone other than ourselves.

[xp38]

Helen Keller later in life became a communist but I think most freepers would have let her live anyway.

[TXnMA]

First off, aside from a genetic predisposition to orneriness, I am blessed in not being 'disabled' in any way. Consequently, I had never given the matter of 'disability' much in-depth thought -- until this idiotic "ethicist"'s article lit my fire...

It doesn't take much thought -- or personal experience with the 'disabled' -- to see the total fallacy in this bozo's position:

It is not the disability that makes a person --
it is their abilities!!

An example from personal experience:

Several years ago our house burned;our dog escaped, but was terrified by all the commotion. Donald, our Down Syndrome neighbor up the street, was the only one with the sensitivity to perceive and be concerned over our dog's distress.

When I first noticed Donald, he had gone back home, returned with doggie treats, and was sitting on the curb with his arm around our dog -- consoling him with treats and love.

In all that crowd of firefighters, onlookers, and folks who had come to help and console us, our "disabled" neighbor was the only one with the ability to see and act on our dog's need.

In the months that followed, Donald kept me company for hours while I labored to restore furniture and personal items. In that relaxed atmosphere, his profound stuttering faded away, and we had many enjoyable conversations. I discovered that I had a warm, thoughtful, kind -- and, even, witty -- friend in Donald. His friendship brightened many a long, black, sooty hour!

Had "biomedical ethicist" (now there's an oxymoron) Dan W. Brock had his way, I would have missed out on a wonderful friendship.

=====================

IMHO, it is Brock who is 'disabled': he lacks the good sense that the Creator bestows on even a jackass. And he is cerainly bereft of the fine human qualities of my friend whose life he would have denied the right to exist.

TXnMA (No Longer!!!)

[Hila]

It is a terrible thing to fall into the hands of the Almighty, especially when having come against His creation-and the most vulnerable of human beings: His babies.

[Gophack]

While everyone has made excellent points to refute this so-called bio-ethicist, I wanted to highlight your statement: "The value of human life is not determined by ability."

We can all think of people like Stephen Hawkings, Stevie Wonder (he's blind, right?), and Helen Keller, and others who have made incredible contributions in music and science and education and every field imaginable, all with "handicaps".

But what about the people who are "not perfect" (like any of us are!) who simply bring joy. The babies with Down Syndrome who grow up may never find the cure of cancer, but they can bring love and joy to their families and friends, they can learn and be self-sufficient much of the time though it is harder for them and harder for their families. There is a boy about 11 who has down syndrome who is my toddler's day care. He goes to a special school, and when he comes to the house each day he has more patience with my 18 month old to play silly baby games than the 4 and 5 year olds who don't like the baby stealing their toys or knocking down their block castle.

I worked with emotionally disturbed children as a volunteer when I was in high school. I cried about the injustice of it all, that these beautiful kids would never live a "normal" life, that they would always need help doing even the simplist things. But one thing they needed no help with: they all loved. They could hug and hold hands and sit on my lap and sing simple songs, and even if they couldn't sing they loved music.

Would they be better off dead? Who are we to judge? I thank God that I have three healthy children, but if my fourth were to be "imperfect", should I bitch and moan and complain, or accept my child and love him or her as much as my "normal" kids?

Anyway, I just had to comment. In addition, many of the so-called "birth defects" are curable, or will be curable in time.

[aruanan]

Defective Babies Should Be Aborted, Bio-ethicist Says

Defective bio-ethicists should be used for medical experiments.

[pbear8]

Defective Bio-ethicists should be aborted.

[BlackElk]

I wonder what Mr. Brock would recommend for morally disabled bioethicists? Post-natal abortion perhaps? How does he define "ethics"?

[Gophack]

And the king answering shall say to them: Amen I say to you, as long as you did it to one of these my least brethren, you did it to me. Mt 25:40

[Gophack]

45 Then he shall answer them, saying: Amen: I say to you, as long as you did it not to one of these least, neither did you do it to me. Mt 25:45