Comments on genetic testing, Down syndrome & abortionTypePad2005-10-19T07:08:52Zjoseph walkerhttps://joewalker.blogs.com/felixhominum/tag:typepad.com,2003:https://joewalker.blogs.com/felixhominum/2005/10/genetic_testing/comments/atom.xml/Winston Pei commented on 'genetic testing, Down syndrome & abortion'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d834515ec969e200d834920b1269e22005-10-20T16:53:01Z2008-08-30T00:02:29ZWinston Peihttp://www.blackriders.com/Now that my first comment is out there, I think I should probably clarify that I realize 'the right to...<p>Now that my first comment is out there, I think I should probably clarify that I realize 'the right to live' and 'the right to reproduce' and 'the right to parent' are all very different issues. While the eugenics movement in Alberta resulted in enforced sterilization of the supposedly "feeble-minded," at least our government stopped short of simply killing them. Not every government has. And we do need to decide if this is anywhere near where we want to go now.</p>
<p>Meanwhile, our government does still regularly remove children from families where the 'parents' just aren't able to do the job. Are these situations where we should go back to trying to preemptively stop people from getting "in the family way"? Is enforced long-term birth control, for example, a different thing from enforced sterilization?</p>
<p>The underlying issue common to all, however, is who gets to decide and based on what criteria? Who gets to breed? Who gets to parent? Who gets to live? Who even gets to ask these questions?</p>
<p>And once the "right" person has decided, what do we want them to do about it?</p>Winston Pei commented on 'genetic testing, Down syndrome & abortion'tag:typepad.com,2003:6a00d834515ec969e200d83492086d69e22005-10-20T16:12:24Z2008-08-27T08:34:36ZWinston Peihttp://www.blackriders.com/This is just the new, and scarier, incarnation of eugenics (sterilization so that only people with "good" genes could reproduce)....<p>This is just the new, and scarier, incarnation of eugenics (sterilization so that only people with "good" genes could reproduce). While we're at it, let's stop the spread of Chinese genes -- no, I'm not serious, but there are some who would agree with that idea. Some links --<br />
http://www.abheritage.ca/abpolitics/people/influ_eugenics.html<br />
http://www.expressnews.ualberta.ca/article.cfm?id=4594</p>
<p>If you're looking for a 'gentler' introduction to the topic, we should have a screening of Gattaca.</p>