Commentary: Opponents need to stop equating abortion with eugenics
By Carla Hall,
Los Angeles Times
| 05. 01. 2023
Among the dubious points that U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk makes in his recent ruling suspending the Food and Drug Administration’s authorization of mifepristone is that abortion is part of the now-reviled practice of eugenics.
That clinical-sounding word refers to the appalling and scientifically incorrect theory that was promoted in the past by government and prominent civic leaders — and even the U.S. Supreme Court — to justify the forced sterilization of women and men deemed feeble-minded, mentally ill, criminal or poor to prevent them from bearing offspring who might sully the gene pool.
In his decision, now blocked by the Supreme Court, Kacsmaryk quoted a 2019 opinion by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas noting that “abortion has proved to be a disturbingly effective tool for implementing the discriminatory preferences that undergird eugenics.”
Kacsmaryk’s reference to eugenics came out of the blue near the end of his opinion, apparently in response to a declaration from economist Jason Lindo — submitted as part of the government’s court filings — that taking easily accessed medication abortion pills off the market would make...
Related Articles
By Katie LaGrone, WPTV | 06.28.2024
Image by National Cancer Institute from Unsplash
TAMPA, Fla. — A Tampa jury recently found the now-defunct Lung Institute in Tampa guilty of engaging in “deceptive or unfair practices” while it offered customers “valueless” stem cell therapy to treat incurable...
By Gilma Avalos, NBC | 07.03.2024
Image by Josh Appel from Unsplash
The dream of becoming parents is turning into a nightmare for hundreds of people caught up in a surrogacy money scandal.
Some of the individuals are facing infertility or medical challenges, seeing surrogacy as...
By Michael Hiltzik, LA Times | 07.02.2024
Photo by Claire Anderson on Unsplash
Second only to the Supreme Court’s ruling Monday on when presidents are immune from criminal prosecution, the biggest case of the court’s recently completed session involved the age-old conflict between judges and government regulators...
By Sonia Suter and Naomi Cahn, PET | 07.01.2024
Image by Dusdn5959 from Wikimedia Commons
Since the US Supreme Court's 2022 decision to overturn Roe v Wade (see BioNews 1147), there have been worries about the future of IVF in the USA. Both abortion and IVF involve decisions...