Politically Correct Eugenics Brownback and Kennedy do the right
thing. Mar 31, 2008, Vol. 13, No. 28 • By WESLEY J. SMITH It is
a bitter irony that even as we are enlarging our commitment to
human equality in many areas, we are turning our backs on it in
others. In particular, we may be about to eliminate from our
society people with Down syndrome (DS) and other genetically
caused disabilities. With the development of prenatal genetic
diagnosis, the drive toward eugenics has returned with a
vengeance. Americans may heartily cheer participants in the
Special Olympics, but we abort some 90 percent of all gestating
infants diagnosed with genetic disabilities such as DS,
dwarfism, and spina bifida. Not only that, but a study published
in the American Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology in 2005
found that of the approximately 5,000 babies born with DS
annually, only about 625 were born to mothers who knew of their
baby's condition before birth. Together, these figures suggest
that under the regimen of universal p