I have a sister with downs syndrome.  None of that stuff is news to me.  Eugenicists have always lobbied to make genetic disability the primary reason for abortion, and they've infiltrated both sides of the abortion "debate."  Eugenics did not go away with the Nazis, and American eugenicists are still writing apologist papers asking the same questions about whether or not it is morally right to allow any disabled person to live.  Their propaganda campaigns have convinced a lot of men and women inside and outside of the universities.  

None of this has anything to do with women's rights.  To call Hitler a feminist is so psychotically ridiculous it's not even worth refuting.  Sure, eugenicists have no problem with abortion--as long as the fetus is "defective."  But it doesn't make them "pro-choice."  The ultimate goal of eugenics is to illiminate undesirable genetic traits from the population.  Whether people choose to do it to themselves or have it forced upon them by the state or the insurance companies is irrelevant to the goals of eugenics.  Nothing at all to do with a woman's right to choose.

Feminism is a completely different story.  Equal rights for men and women means equal opportunity to succeed despite some of the pitfalls of their bodies.  That means a woman who does not choose to be pregnant has the right to choose to stop being pregnant.  This is the only way that any notion of sexual equality can be enforced.  If we crafted laws forcing men to be as physically responsible for any accidental fertilizations as the women involved, they would be unenforceable even with modern genetic testing.  Any enforcement method without abortion would require an intolerable tyranny over men.  So instead of equality by increasing tyranny, we as a society chose equality by removing it.  But now that's being rolled back thanks to the right-wing religion lobby, but the exceptions left in place are all in favor of eugenics.  Somehow we've allowed ourselves to be convinced that it is morally right to be extremists of anti-disabled, and moderates or worse on feminism.

This post was last modified: 03-06-2012 04:07 AM by Lang.