Posted on 08/20/2014 1:15:30 PM PDT by wagglebee
In a bizarre rant on Twitter earlier today, atheist Richard Dawkins wrote that choosing not to abort a child with Down Syndrome would be "immoral."
The conversation started when Dawkins tweeted that "Ireland is a civilised country except in this 1 area." The area was abortion, which until last year was illegal in all cases.
A Twitter user then asked Dawkins if "994 human beings with Down's Syndrome [having been] deliberately killed before birth in England and Wales in 2012" was "civilised."
Dawkins replied "yes, it is very civilised. These are fetuses, diagnosed before they have human feelings."
Apparently I'm a horrid monster for recommending WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS to the great majority of Down Syndrome fetuses. They are aborted. — Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) August 20, 2014
.@AidanMcCourt Yes, it is very civilised. These are fetuses, diagnosed before they have human feelings. — Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) August 20, 2014
Later, Dawkins said that "the question is not ‘is it 'human'?’ but ‘can it SUFFER?’"
In perhaps the most shocking moment, one Twitter user wrote that he or she "honestly [doesn't] know what I would do if I were pregnant with a kid with Down Syndrome. Real ethical dilemma."
Dawkins advised the writer to "abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice."
According to Dawkins, the issue of who should be born comes down to a calculation based upon possible suffering. "Yes. Suffering should be avoided. [The abortion] cause[s] no suffering. Reduce suffering wherever you can."
Later, however, he said that people on the autism spectrum "have a great deal to contribute, Maybe even an enhanced ability in some respects. [Down Syndrome] not enhanced."
When Dawkins received some blowback from Twitter followers, he replied: "Apparently I'm a horrid monster for recommending WHAT ACTUALLY HAPPENS to the great majority of Down Syndrome fetuses. They are aborted."
It is estimated that in many Western countries the abortion rate of children diagnosed in utero with Down syndrome is 90%, or even higher. The development of new and more accurate tests for the condition has raised concerns among Down syndrome advocates that that number could rise even higher.
Although it is widely believed that people with Down syndrome are doomed to a life of suffering, in one large survey 99% of respondents with Down syndrome said they were "happy." At the same time, 99% percent of parents said they loved their child with Down syndrome, and 97 percent said they were proud of them.
Only 4 percent of parents who responded said they regretted having their child.
A number of Dawkins' statements in the Twitter thread about fetal development are at odds with scientific realities. For example, it is well-established that 20 weeks into a pregnancy, unborn children can feel pain. Likewise, unborn children have emotional reactions to external stimuli -- such as a mother's stress levels -- months before being born.
What kind of pain? People making fun of you? That’s sure as heck a lot less painful than getting your limbs ripped apart of your body getting burned by acid. That’s a totally illogical statement if I ever heard one. Even “normal” people get teased. Speaking of immoral, isn’t this the douchebag who wants male teachers to make boy toys out of their male students??
So in his mind ladies like Sarah Palin and others choose to carry the bird is EVIL OH OKAY DICKIE WHATEVER HONEY WHATEVER
You still Sick Bloke like Brit Freepers would say
Maybe someone should cut into Dawkins brain with a pair of surgical scissors and see how painless it is.
My wife was born with multiple disabilities (deaf, blind in one eye, and some bone deformities). We’ve had a great life, she and I, and our daughter joined the Army, then used her GI Bill to become a paramedic, now she’s in nursing school. She and her husband have given us three beautiful grandchildren.
I assume this guy would have recommended that my wife be aborted. This guy’s an ass.
I can’t wait till Sarah kid grow up I have feeling since I know Alaskans they do have smart mouth on them
My uncle and my aunt one of them
We got smart mouth Alaskan Freepers here also LOL!
When he manages to wound himself due to stupidity, they should refuse to treat him on the basis of “survival of the fittest”.
What a bastard redux.
Has he ever talked to a Down Syndrome child or adult? Has he ever seen how hard they work at stores? How much joy they contribute when they are in a happy family?
Actually, he’s a real putz as well as a bastard.
I was surprised to learn during my wife’s pregnancy that there is a 5% chance of error when doctors determine the baby’s gender. They also said there was a moderate chance the testing for down syndrome and other disabilities would also be wrong. Of those hundreds of babies that were aborted for the reason that they would have something like down syndrome, I wonder how many of those would have turned out to be false?
We turned down the testing because it wouldn’t sway our decision, but we also felt that if there was a decent chance it was wrong, what’s the point of doing it in the first place then?
His mama probably came to this belief - too late to make a difference.
What are Dawkins’ views on transfer payments? If the issue is that society should not waste resources on people who are a net drag, then we should stop all transfer payments and other forms of social welfare. If a homeless person freezes to death on the street, so be it. It would be immoral to help them because, if they are homeless, they have demonstrated that they most likely are not accretive to society.
Please, ISIS, if you are planning a terrorist attack in Britain, hit whatever university this piece of sh** works at
He would of made a good Nazi.
By his own definition, then, Dawkins is still a fetus.
When my cousin was pregnant with her first child, the baby tested positive for Down Syndrome. That caused her much distress, but she went ahead with the pregnancy. Her son was born prematurely but, in spite of a rather rough beginning, he has grown into a strong, healthy, and good-looking teenager -- without Down Syndrome.
BULL’S EYE!
The lesson is that human knowledge has not quite reached the point of being able to second-guess God over what belongs on the earth and for what reason. We only look like fools when we do. Mr. Dawkins certainly does.
“Dawkins was born in Nairobi, Kenya.[9] “
“In 2004, Balliol College, Oxford instituted the Dawkins Prize, awarded for “outstanding research into the ecology and behaviour of animals whose welfare and survival may be endangered by human activities”.[26] In September 2008, he retired from his professorship, [at Balliol] announcing plans to “write a book aimed at youngsters in which he will warn them against believing in ‘anti-scientific’ fairytales.””
This proves that Liberals are Evil.
(WE DON'T ALL BELIEVE THAT!) Okay, then let us here you denounce this and all eugenics.....
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