[Notwithstanding]

http://www.cnsnews.com/ViewCulture.asp?Page=\Culture\archive\200211\CUL20021125b.html

[Maigrey]

If this can of worms opens, where is the line drawn? Do you dispose of those who are less than perfect? What about who do not have conjenital defects, but acquire them during the course of childhood (such as hearing imparment due to childhood miningitis; loss of sight due to diabetes; etc)? What about those with a cleft palate?

Can we say, Gattica?

-Maigrey-

[mbynack]

Coupla Questions Question 1:

If you knew a woman who was pregnant, who had 8 kids already, three who were deaf, two who were blind, one mentally retarded, and she had syphilis; would you recommend that she have an abortion?

If you said yes, you just killed Beethoven.

Question 2:

It is time to elect a new world leader, and your vote counts.

Here are the facts about the three leading candidates:

Candidate A: Associates with crooked politicians, and consults with astrologists. He's had two mistresses. He also chain smokes and drinks 8 to 10 martinis a day.

Candidate B: He was kicked out of office twice, sleeps until noon, used opium in college and drinks a quart of whiskey every evening.

Candidate C: He is a decorated war hero. He's a vegetarian, doesn't smoke, drinks an occasional beer and hasn't had any extramarital affairs.

Which of these candidates would be your choice?

Candidate A is Franklin D. Roosevelt
Candidate B is Winston Churchill
Candidate C is Adolph Hitler

Makes a person think before judging someone.

Remember amateurs built the ark - Professionals built the Titanic.

[Charles Henrickson]

Dr. Danbrock: A computer could be set and programmed to accept factors from youth, health, sexual fertility, intelligence, and a cross-section of necessary skills. Of course, it would be absolutely vital that our top bioethicists and scholars be included to foster and impart the required principles of leadership and tradition. Arrrrr! Naturally, they would breed prodigiously, eh? There would be much time, and little to do.

[Maigrey]

I can see it now (as a socialist nightmare...)
(theme borrowed from a short story I read earlier this year)
Testing for 13 year old to make certain they are of low enough intelligence. Parents try to teach him wrong so he can pass his test. results came back, and since the child was too smart, he was eliminated.

-Maigrey-

[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??

[EternalVigilance]

NIH? Our payroll?

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

[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.

[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.

[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.

[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"?

[Stefan Stackhouse]

Once the National Socialists took over, they came out with revised editions of school textbooks. Many of the math story problems involved calculating how much of the Reich's money was "wasted" caring for the disabled and inform.

[Gophack]

The late Terence Cardinal Cooke wrote a beautiful letter for Respect Life Sunday in 1983. Its eloquence was enhanced by the fact that he was dying of cancer as he wrote it, and died two days before it was read in all the parishes of the Archdiocese of New York. He wrote, "The 'gift of life,' God's special gift, is no less beautiful when it is accompanied by illness or weakness, hunger or poverty, mental or physical handicaps, loneliness or old age. Indeed, at these times, human life gains extra splendor as it requires our special care, concern and reverence."

[Sonny M]

There's a poor excuse for a human at Princeton Named Peter Singer, who advocates not only aborting anyone who is "not up to par", but also believes in infancide after birth. He's defined life as begining as some later point, and only if the child is born perfectly normal and remains so. I hate him, I despise him, and yes I wish him dead. His sick type of thinking of killing or wanting more killing of children, both born and unborn, because they don't fit in with his ideal human makes me sick to my stomach. Princeton won't fire him either, and that disgusts me even more. I hope he dies, I'll be there to urinate on his grave.

[lavaroise]

Too bad he does not apply this ethic on himself, the ugly old fool.

Medicine and entire generations would have gone nowhere if we had started aborting premature babies and other deformities. It is unconsciounable that those who aim to heal and to fight against disease are now derided by those who abandon the right to life for pure priviledges of feeling good. It is downright exploitation of man. War against the disease is replaced with giving up against the disease. It is replaced by war against hope, life, ingenuity and peace.

[nickcarraway]

Bio-ethicist Sparks Furor by Suggesting Abortions of Disabled

[blackbart1]

Just one person's opinion!

[Busywhiskers]

Bio-ethicists Should be Aborted, Defective Babies say.