Abortion Justified For 'Better Babies'

The Age (Melbourne, Australia) ^ | 7/6/03 | Aaron Patrick

[marshmallow]

James Watson would have aborted his son if a genetic test had been available at the time warning that his child would be born with severe epilepsy.

Declaring "I'm not a sadist", the man who co-discovered DNA said that parents, especially mothers, should have a right of genetic veto over the make-up of their child.

"Any time you can prevent a seriously sick child from being born, it is good for everyone," Dr Watson told The Sunday Age. "Most mothers wouldn't want to have dwarfs."

Dr Watson's views are based on a fierce libertarianism and personal experience. One of his two sons is severely disabled from complications caused by epilepsy, and will soon undergo a type of surgery in Switzerland only done 11 times before.

Problems with his son's health left Dr Watson unable to open the International Congress of Genetics today in Melbourne. Instead he will appear before the conference, which is held every five years, by videotape.

The Nobel Prize winner has a reputation for candour. He was one of the first scientists to talk intimately about the political and personal rivalry in his profession and is open about his dislike of the Catholic Church, government regulation and those who oppose genetic screening.

"Who would be against having better children?" he said. "If it goes wrong and creates a social problem, then maybe you ought to do something about it."

Dr Watson's refusal to oppose what he concedes could lead to eugenics takes him on to sensitive ethical ground.

For instance, he believes abortions are acceptable where a foetus is found to be genetically inclined to homosexuality.

"If they want to, let them," he said. "My wife really wants a grandchild."

Dr Watson said there is likely to be a genetic component to homosexuality, but the major cause may be hormonal surges during pregnancy.

Dr Watson is also an opponent of the Catholic Church, comparing its fight against stem cell research to the Vatican's 1633 prosecution of astronomer Galileo Galilei for postulating that the Earth rotates around the Sun. He says he has never seen a soul in a test tube.

But on the subject of human cloning, his passionate belief in the freedom of science reaches its limit.

"I hope it doesn't happen because it could create havoc with the DNA fingerprint (of society)," Dr Watson says. "Most people wouldn't want to walk around the city knowing there are 50 other people who look like them."

He also disagrees with the dark predictions of the science-fiction film Gattica, in which genetics determine each person's role in society.

[marshmallow]

In case it isn't obvious from the article, Watson is an atheist. For those wanting a fuller exposition of his views on life and the meaning thereof, there is a lengthy article in Scientific American in April or May of this year, written to celebrate the 50th anniversary of Watson and Crick's discovery of the double helical structure of DNA. (He did not discover DNA itself, as the article states, only elucidated its structure).

The son of an atheist father and a nominally Catholic mother, he recalls how he was lucky enough to grow up without any of those "religious hangups", thanks to his father's influence. The sort of views he now espouses are the fruit of this upbringing.

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[Guenevere]

I often wonder what folks like this think, when they enter the 'afterlife'....
..what is their first reaction....

I feel pity for him....and for his children.

I would say his son can't help but know his father would rather he hadn't been born....

..sad, very sad.

His thinking is dark, and the light is not in him....

May God yet illuminate him.

[lady lawyer]

How must that poor son feel, knowing his father thinks he is so imperfect he wishes he had been killed. Monstrous. The man is not just an atheist, he is unhuman and a miserable excuse for a parent.

[NYer]

For instance, he believes abortions are acceptable where a foetus is found to be genetically inclined to homosexuality.

Unless, of course, you are a lesbian, right?

[BibChr]

Good find, but already posted HERE.

Dan

[Sofa King]

Why stop there? Why don't we just start killing everyone with any sort of genetic deformity. I mean, do people with Down syndrome really need to live?

I'm pretty sure that what this guy is recommending fits the definition of genocide.

[marshmallow]

Thanks. I figured it would be posted somewhere but I drew a blank when I did a search, so posted anyway.

[wideawake]

Dr Watson is also an opponent of the Catholic Church

Surprise, surprise, surprise.

Too bad for Dr. Watson that we'll be around long after he and his ilk are gone. Thanks for playing, Dr. Watson!

[BibChr]

That search feature has been difficult for me, too! )c8

Someone gave me the helpful suggestion of doing the search, then using the "order by" to select "order by post time," then Search again. Helped me, anyway.

Dan

[r9etb]

Dr Watson's views are based on a fierce libertarianism and personal experience. One of his two sons is severely disabled from complications caused by epilepsy, and will soon undergo a type of surgery in Switzerland only done 11 times before.

"Hey, son -- I think you're worthless, and I would have killed you had I known what a heap of useless tissue you'd turn out to be."

Watson may be a smart fellow in some areas, but it's clear that he's a very much an idiot in matters of right and wrong.

It's always good to hold up folks like this as a warning to those who would replace moral discernment with scientific principles.

[apollo11]

So I suppose that Dr. Watson would have advocated aborting Beethoven, since his mother was a syphilitic single mom and he was destined to be born deaf, underweight and with a myriad of other complications. Better that Ludwig had been 86'd by his mother, so the world could have been spared his sub-standard existence.

I wonder if Dr. Watson had any undesirable characteristics that would have made his mother want to terminate him.

[k omalley]

And what happens if that "perfect child" is later in an accident or contracts a contagious disease which leaves him permanently brain damaged? Would Watson have him euthanized?