France’s Conseil d’Etat (Council of State) — a governing body that acts as both legal counsel to the executive branch and a sort of supreme judicial body — has ruled that advertisements showing smiling, happy children with Down syndrome are “inappropriate” and might “disturb” some women.
At the crux of the case is the Friends of Eleanor Collective and the Jerome Lejeune Foundation, who wished to run an advertisement called “Dear Future Mom” which featured smiling children with Down syndrome, shown having happy and relatively normal lives. The advertisement ended with: “Dear future mother, your child can be happy. Just like I am! And you’ll be happy too. Right, Mom?”
Marianna Orlandi of C-Fam notes:
With this pronouncement, the French judges upheld a previous decision by the CSA (“Conseil Supérieur de l’audiovisuel” — equivalent of the U.S. Federal Communication Commission). In 2014, CSA banned the diffusion of the video “Dear Future Mom,” an award-winning short movie that was released on World Down Syndrome Day and broadcasted by some French media outlets…
This video was a response to the legitimate fears expressed by disability rights advocates, and shared by a good number of “unbiased” commentators, about the next and perhaps very close extinction of people with Down syndrome. As of today, 90 percent of pregnancies that are diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted worldwide. In France, where prenatal screening is enshrined in public policy, the number increases to 96 percent.
In short, an advertisement urging expectant mothers not to exterminate human beings because of perceived fears of cognitive disabilities was pulled by the French government because they determined it might trouble some mothers who had elected to terminate the life of their child with Down syndrome.
If this sounds like complete madness, don’t be alarmed: It is.
The Conseil d’Etat has upheld a CSA decision that, for all intents and purposes, serves to protect a eugenics program allowed by the French government — namely, prenatal screening and the aborting of children with Down syndrome.
Don’t be shocked, it’s not just France that supports eugenics. Famed atheist Richard Dawkins was forced to apologize after tweeting a response to an individual who posed the ethical question of aborting a child with Down syndrome. Dawkins responded with: “Abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice.”
@InYourFaceNYer Abort it and try again. It would be immoral to bring it into the world if you have the choice.
— Richard Dawkins (@RichardDawkins) August 20, 2014
What Dawkins so bluntly stated is the crux of the pro-eugenics argument: Equality in creation is a lie, and through eugenics, perfection in the population can be achieved. In short, some lives are worth more than others, even in the womb.
So much for “Liberte, egalite, fraternite.”
William Upton is a contributor to the Washington Examiner’s Beltway Confidential blog. He is a political writer in Washington, D.C. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions. Thinking of submitting an op-ed to the Washington Examiner? Be sure to read our guidelines on submissions.
