“Abortion as an Instrument of Eugenics”
Here is a link to an excellent piece by Michael Paulsen. The article was just published in the Harvard Law Review Forum. Paulsen discusses trait selection abortion bans, which are increasingly common. He notes that these bans “pose hugely important, stark, and seemingly unavoidable legal and moral challenges to the constitutional regime of Roe.”
Dave Andrusko on Down syndrome abortion bans
Here is a good story by Dave Andrusko on laws banning Down syndrome abortions. Andrusko highlights the changing legal landscape and also mentions the importance of Justice Thomas’s opinion in the Box case in which Thomas empathized that such bans “promote a State’s compelling interest in preventing abortion from becoming a tool of modern-day eugenics.”
Nina Totenberg on the Future of Roe v. Wade
Here is a link to an interesting article by NPR’s Nina Totenberg about the fate of Roe v. Wade now that there is, in her estimation, a new six-justice conservative supermajority on the US Supreme Court. The article includes speculation that the Court might rely on the eugenics argument forcefully expressed by Justice Thomas.
ECLJ on the Decision of the Polish Constitutional Court Rejecting Eugenic Abortion
From the European Centre for Law and Justice, here is a report of a recent decision of the Polish Constitutional Court. The Court “rendered a historic decision declaring that eugenic abortion is contrary to the dignity and life of the human being, the respect of which is guaranteed by the Polish Constitution.”
Supplement to Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought published
Along with Joe Varacalli and Michael Coulter, I had the privilege of co-editing the 3rd volume of the Encyclopedia of Catholic Social Thought, Social Science, and Social Policy. The original 2 volumes were published in 2007 (Steve Krason was the 4th co-editor of those volumes). Here are a couple of links to volume 3. https://rowman.com/ISBN/9780810882669 and http://www.amazon.com/Encyclopedia-Catholic-Social-Thought-Science/dp/0810882663/ref=pd_sim_sbs_b_1 […]
good article by Wesley Smith on the bigotry against the disabled
Here is a link to a recent post on Wesley Smith’s blog. Smith links to an article he recently published in the Human Life Review on “the unrepentant bigotry” against people with profound disabilities. http://www.firstthings.com/blogs/secondhandsmoke/2012/04/18/that-unrepentant-bigotry/ Here are the closing paragraphs of the article: “Activists and their supporters who struggle against racism and other forms of discriminatory […]
“Still paying the price for eugenics’ evil”
That’s the title of a blog post (link below) by Wesley Smith in which Smith discusses the recent New York Times article on the sterilization program in North Carolina and the efforts underway to provide remedies to the thousands of victims. The New York Times article is noteworthy for many reasons. I thought it was interesting that […]
G. Annas “Assisted Reproduction – Canada’s Supreme Court and the “Global Baby”
The August 4 issue of New England Journal of Medicine contains an article by Prof. George Annas entitled Assisted Reproduction – Canada’s Supreme Court and the “Global Baby“. He adopts the phrase “global baby” from a Wall Street Journal article found here about the growth of human surrogacy as an international trade. Prof. Annas notes […]
German bishops denounce Germany’s approval of PDG
Here is a Zenit story on the German Catholic bishops’ response to a new German law that gives the go-ahead to the use of Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PDG). http://www.zenit.org/rssenglish-33074 The bishops point out the eugenic implications of such usage. “The selection of a ‘healthy’ embryo always entails the rejection of ‘unhealthy’ human embryos–and thus a violation […]
Reproductive Rights Blog
In 2007, Caitlin E. Borgmann, another former Center for Reproductive Rights lawyer turned law professor, established the Reproductive Rights Prof Blog. The blog contains this description of its purpose and scope: Welcome to the Reproductive Rights Prof Blog, a member of the Law Professor Blogs network. This blog aims to provide resources, news, and information […]