Recently I was able to listen to parts of the North Carolina House of Representatives debate on H-453, the Human Life Non-Discrimination Act/No Eugenics. The debate was interesting and disturbing.
Before I comment on the debate, I would like to mention a few statistics:
In September 2011, Lifesite News reported the following:
A survey of all U.S. ZIP codes where Planned Parenthood clinics are located in the United States has found that most are located in areas with a minority population significantly higher than the state average.
In November 2016, the Center for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported the following:
Among the 29 areas that reported cross-classified race/ethnicity data for 2013, non-Hispanic white women and non-Hispanic black women accounted for the largest percentages of abortions (37.3% and 35.6%, respectively) and Hispanic women and non-Hispanic women in the other race category accounted for smaller percentages (19.0% and 8.1%, respectively) (Table 12). Non-Hispanic white women had the lowest abortion rate (7.2 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratio (121 abortions per 1,000 live births) and non-Hispanic black women had the highest abortion rate (27.0 abortions per 1,000 women aged 15–44 years) and ratio (420 abortions per 1,000 live births). Data for 2013 are also reported separately by race and by ethnicity (Tables 13 and 14).
Some of the legislators speaking against the bill objected to the use of the term eugenics. When you look at where the abortion clinics are located and whose babies are being aborted, what else would you call it?
Some of the supporters of the bill asked, “Who is that child that is being aborted?” Have we killed the child who would find the cure for cancer? But what about the ordinary child? Does a child who will be ordinary have a right to live? What about the loving, gentle spirit of a Down Syndrome child? Is that worth anything?
Some of the legislators objected to the bill because it limited ‘healthcare’ options for women. When did killing your child become healthcare? Another objection was ‘my body, my choice.” But it’s not your body any more than a robin’s egg in a nest is part of the robin’s body–it has its own unique DNA.
The bottom line here is that this bill is a small step in restoring our humanity. Killing a child because it is the wrong sex, the wrong race, or imperfect is not the mark of a civilized society.
Goodreads.com posted the following story about civilized society:
“A student once asked anthropologist Margaret Mead, “What is the earliest sign of civilization?” The student expected her to say a clay pot, a grinding stone, or maybe a weapon.
Margaret Mead thought for a moment, then she said, “A healed femur.”
A femur is the longest bone in the body, linking hip to knee. In societies without the benefits of modern medicine, it takes about six weeks of rest for a fractured femur to heal. A healed femur shows that someone cared for the injured person, did their hunting and gathering, stayed with them, and offered physical protection and human companionship until the injury could mend.
Mead explained that where the law of the jungle—the survival of the fittest—rules, no healed femurs are found. The first sign of civilization is compassion, seen in a healed femur.”
Compassion is letting a child live. The bill has passed the House of Representatives and has been referred to the Committee On Rules and Operations of the Senate.