[Peace-discuss] for children who are wanted

[Alfred Kagan]

Equating abortion to eugenics may be startling argument but it hardly 
makes sense.


At 10:56 AM -0500 4/26/04, C. G. Estabrook wrote:
>Lisa--
>
>The US has a long history of eugenicist and natalist policies -- and it
>encourages such things in the Third World now -- to prevent the birth of
>"unwanted people."  Che Guevara is reported (probably apocryphally) to
>have said, "It's easier to kill a guerrilla in the womb than in the
>hills."
>
>May 2 marks the 77th anniversary of the United States Supreme Court
>decision on favor of eugenic sterilization for people considered
>genetically unfit. The Court's decision (by Oliver Wendell Holmes, Jr.) 
>included the infamous phrase, "Three generations of imbeciles are enough."
>Relying on the expert testimony of one Arthur Estabrook, the court
>permitted laws in 30 states under which an estimated 65,000 Americans were
>sterilized without their own consent or that of a family member.  The
>German practice, instituted a few years later, relied explicitly on the US
>precedents.
>
>Alexander Cockburn at Counterpunch has written on these matters, but not
>too many others on the left do, so far as I can tell.  An obvious
>implication is the need to demand child allowances, universal health care,
>guaranteed annual incomes, etc.  Capitalist society would rather provide
>for the removal of unwanteds.
>
>Regards, Carl
>
>
>On Mon, 26 Apr 2004, Lisa Chason wrote:
>
>>  I once read an article about a study that made the point that the
>>  dramatic decrease in crime figures that began some years ago, which
>>  many experts have found puzzling and have come up with various
>>  theories to explain, coincides with the same number of years that had
>>  passed since the introduction of Roe v Wade and the coming of age of
>>  all those unwanted children (ie that the crime figures started to
>>  decrease when the right to an abortion had been in effect around 18
>>  years). Women having the opportunity to choose means not bringing
>>  unwanted children into the world, and all the ramifications that
>>  follow. Women's right to choose means being in favor of children who
>>  are wanted. This is not to say that all people who end up in our
>>  insane criminal (in)justice system were not wanted, but women who do
>>  not want to bear a child for whatever reason should not be forced to
>>  do so, or to resort to illegal and dangerous abortions when they have
>>  no other choice.
>>
>>  Lisa
>
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-- 


Al Kagan
African Studies Bibliographer and Professor of Library Administration
Africana Unit, Room 328
University of Illinois Library
1408 W. Gregory Drive
Urbana, IL 61801, USA

tel. 217-333-6519
fax. 217-333-2214
e-mail. akagan at uiuc.edu