“Eugenics Just Got Miniaturized”
John Stonestreet from the Chuck Colson Center for Christian Worldview has a short, one-minute radio spot explaining a troubling way in which eugenics is making a comeback in our society.
Generally speaking, eugenics is the idea that:
- Some people’s lives are made unlivable by the burden of disease or disability, or
- Some people represent an undue burden to others due to disease, disability, ethnicity, or some similar factor.
Historically, the solution eugenics offers to this “burden” has almost always been to kill the person in question or forcibly sterilize them, preventing them from reproducing.
It’s the 19th-century pseudoscience at the root of Nazism and the U.S. Supreme Court’s infamous Buck v. Bell forced sterilization decision. But Eugenics, the idea that some lives are unworthy of life, is far from dead. In fact, it’s making a subtle and troubling comeback.
Doctors in the U.K. have just announced that they’ve pioneered the most effective embryo-screening technique to date, allowing couples with potential genetic illnesses to avoid giving birth to genetically diseased children.
‘Parents at risk of passing on a genetic disorder,’ said Paul Serhal, at the Centre for Reproductive and Genetic Health, ‘are faced with heartbreaking implications. . . [This] breakthrough…means that parents affected may be able to pursue treatment confident that their condition wouldn’t be handed down.’
Stonestreet goes on to say the “treatment” parents could seek would most likely be abortion. Listen to the full radio spot below.
[audio:http://bit.ly/1q4C4bp|titles=John Stonestreet – It’s Still Eugenics]
