By Michael Cook Eugenics is not a word to be trifled with. It evokes the horror of Nazi atrocities during World War II as well as widespread human rights violations in the early part of the 20th Century in the United States, Canada and some European countries. But, contend the authors of a special issue …
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Even today, some bioethicists insist that parents should ‘improve the stock’ By Christopher M. Reilly Advocates for abortion rights are claiming that a recent legal opinion of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, which described abortion as a tool of eugenics, is merely an incoherent “rant.” They argue that his well-researched, 20-page document conflates the free …
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By John Stonestreet with G. Shane Morris Eugenics is a bad idea, a bad idea that, like all bad ideas, has victims. Efforts to keep those deemed inferior from reproducing or even existing were a central part of the Nazi experiment in Germany, which upended the entire world and led to the extermination of millions …
Continue reading "Eugenics Is Still with Us: Death in the Name of ‘Best Interests’"
By Dave Andrusko About once a week my search for “Today in History” turns up a reminder, positive or negative, of something that pro-lifers should carefully ponder. Ninety two years ago today, in the infamous Buck v. Bell, the United States Supreme Court upheld a Virginia law that allowed the forced sterilization of people to …
Continue reading "Carrie Buck and the old eugenics, the new eugenics and Alfie Evans"
By Wesley J. Smith Here’s another example of that cultural inflation. Two of the world’s most influential bioethicists want health insurance to pay the cost of applying expensive biotechnologies to allow people to have their progeny engineered to possess “desirable” characteristics that will flow down the generations — a new form of eugenics. Let’s call …
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By Dave Andrusko A crucial step in Ohio’s efforts to ban abortions for the sole reason that the baby has Down syndrome took place in Cincinnati yesterday before a three-judge panel of the 6th Circuit Court of Appeals . Chief Judge R. Guy Cole, Judge Bernice Bouie Donald, and Judge Alice Batchelder were asked by …
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Dr. Hans Asperger consigned dozens of children in Nazi Vienna to certain death, claims new book. By Francis Phillips Editor’s note. The following is a book review of “Asperger’s Children: The Origins of Autism in Nazi Vienna,” by Edith Sheffer. Norton & Company. Historian Michael Burleigh’s book, Death and Deliverance, a detailed indictment of the …
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By Wesley J. Smith We’ve seen it happen: A new assault on the sanctity of human life appears—say, infanticide being promoted in a major bioethics journal, or officials in Iceland bragging that no children with Down syndrome are born there, thanks to prenatal genetic screening—and some horrified opponents respond in horror, “That’s what the Nazis …
Continue reading "Eugenics’ Deadly Legacy"
By Dave Andrusko About once a week my search for “Today in History” turns up a reminder, positive or negative, of something that pro-lifers should carefully ponder. Ninety one years ago today, in Buck v. Bell, the United States Supreme Court upheld a Virginia law that allowed the forced sterilization of people to promote the …
Continue reading "Carrie Buck and the old eugenics, Alfie Evans and the new eugenics"
By Wesley J. Smith Ruth Marcus has boldly declared that if she were pregnant and discovered her baby had Down syndrome, that child would never see the light of day. From her column: Down syndrome is life-altering for the entire family. I’m going to be blunt here: That was not the child I wanted. That …
Continue reading "Abortion, Eugenics, and the corrosion of unconditional parental love"
By Wesley J. Smith We’ve seen it happen: A new assault on the sanctity of human life appears—say, infanticide being promoted in a major bioethics journal, or officials in Iceland bragging that no children with Down syndrome are born there, thanks to prenatal genetic screening—and some horrified opponents respond in horror, “That’s what the Nazis …
Continue reading "The Deadly Legacy of Eugenics"Why Buck v. Bell still matters By Eric Metaxas with Roberto Rivera 2017 is a year of milestone anniversaries for events that shaped our world: the Reformation, the Russian Revolution, and one horrible Supreme Court decision. As John Stonestreet often says, “ideas have consequences and bad ideas have victims.” One such victim was Carrie Buck. …
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