Eugenics is a philosophy that decides who is ‘fit’ to live and who is not. In the past, it could be State-imposed and coercive. Today, it is much more likely to be chosen by parents who screen their babies in the womb for disabilities like Down Syndrome and then frequently opt for abortion when such a diagnosis is given. Ireland is by no mean immune to this. The Iona Institute has been researching the rise of eugenics in Ireland and elsewhere over the years and writing about it regularly through our blog. Below, we present a selection of those writings. What it catalogues is chilling. We look at the history of eugenics, and in particular the progressive elimination of children with Down Syndrome from our societies. This should prompt national soul-searching but has not done so to date. Nonetheless, it must be recorded, and this is what we do here.
Ireland
Screening out Down Syndrome shows true nature of modern Ireland
More Irish opting for eugenic abortion
In practice most people are as pro-eugenics as Richard Dawkins
How the 8th amendment saved hundreds of babies with Down Syndrome
What Dr Peter McParland told the Citizens’ Assembly
The history
Mother and Baby Homes report highlights how eugenics targeted unmarried mothers
How eugenics took a hold of social democratic Denmark
How science was used to victimise unmarried mothers
The abortion movement and its root to eugenics
A world without Down Syndrome
How social disapproval of Down Syndrome affects my child
Down Syndrome: a response to Fintan O’Toole
Official figures badly underestimate number of Down Syndrome abortions
Screening for defective children reaches a new level of sophistication
Big money to be made from pre-natal testing
