Ob/Gyns in England Want Debate about Killing Newborns

Newsmax passed along a report yesterday from the Times of London, claiming that the Royal College of Ob/Gyns wants infanticide to be considered as a possible response to disabled newborns.

Note the reasoning given by the pro-infanticide advocates:

1. Prevent disabled families
2. Prevent late-term abortion (by allowing parents to kill their kids after birth)
3. Save disabled babies from pain, distress, and discomfort

We all care about preventing suffering of individuals and families, but none of us believe every solution is worth considering. Sure, we kill animals to save them from suffering, but humans are not animals. Humans have an intrinsic dignity that demands we first respect their right to life and then work within those uniquely human boundaries to alleviate suffering.

In order to use killing to alleviate suffering, infanticide advocates must first show that this solution to suffering is one of the moral options, by showing that humans are the same sort of things as animals. We hardly hear any explicit engagement of this question but when we do, the discussion is elevated only to the level of assertion. Seldom does anyone give reasons why we should believe humans are only animals. Why won't infanticide advocates shoulder the burden of proof? After all, they are the ones arguing for the transfer of a solution appropriate to solving animal suffering (killing) into the human sphere. That's a leap that must be justified.

Comments

[Paul A]

"Save disabled babies from pain, distress, and discomfort."

I'm curious who gets to decide what an appropriate level of "pain, distress, and discomfort" is necessary to make a baby a candidate for killing. What if the family is just poor? There's a certain level of distress and discomfort that come from that.

Actually, I know of no human that would say their life is free from "pain, distress, and discomfort." And why should it be limited to babies? If we're for killing people (that nobody can argue "aren't *really* people"), let's just decide what an acceptable "quality of life" is and have squads go pick up the "undesireables" in paddywagons.

Sheesh. Don't they teach ethics or logic in medical schools anymore?