Friday, August 19, 2005

Eugenic Abortion: Eliminating the Imperfect Babies

An op-ed piece in the Seattle Post-Intelligencer by George Neumayr presents the gruesome story of how America's doctors are routinely (and increasingly) destroying Downs Syndrome babies and others whose existence is determined too unfit to live.

"...There really isn't any entity that is charged with monitoring what has been happening," says Andrew Imparato, head of the American Association of People with Disabilities. "A lot of people prefer that that data not be collected. But we're seeing just the tip of the iceberg. This is a new eugenics, and I don't know where it is going to end."

"I think of it as a commercial eugenics," says Andrew Kimbrell, executive director of the International Center for Technology Assessment. "Whenever anybody thinks of eugenics, they think of Adolf Hitler. This is a commercial eugenics. But the result is the same, an intolerance for those who don't fit the norm. It is less open and more subtle. Try to get any numbers on reproductive issues. Try to get actual numbers on sex-selection abortions. They are always difficult to get..."