I Shouldn’t Have to Talk About Eugenics

I shouldn’t have to talk about eugenics.

Eugenics is one of those ideas that was stupid to begin with and never should have had a renaissance: like miasma theory, or the myth that vaccines cause autism. Yet here we are. Everything that was old is new again.

When I was a teenage conservative who thought all Christians had to be Republicans, I was told that Democrats who were pro-choice were pro-eugenic. They wanted to eliminate disabled babies to create a master race, just like the Nazis. I’ve met a small handful of Democrats who do say such things about disabled babies, particularly if they’re poor, not realizing that they’re parroting eugenic talking points, and those Democrats are dead wrong. But the people I hear spouting eugenic talking points just now tend to be Republicans who supported Trump. The tech bros like eugenics these days. There’s lots of talk about techbro billionaires designing their perfect kids with in vitro fertilization. There’s lots of talk about breeding a genetically perfect baby who won’t let you down by having a disability. And they are also dead wrong.

There was even a recent article in the New York Times about a company that will screen all your embryos for you, if you happen to have some on ice, so you can pick out the child with the least problematic genes. Build your own baby, with no fear of disability, and get rid of the embarrassing imperfect ones. And that’s a stupid way to think about an embryo.

First of all, I refuse to believe that that company can possibly be as sure as they think they are about a baby’s genes.

Genetics is an extremely complicated science. I don’t think a doctor who wasn’t trying to sell you something would advise you to spend $2500 apiece for them to tell your baby’s fortune. But even if they’re right about what they can do, they’re wrong.

If you could eliminate genetically imperfect babies before they were born, it wouldn’t prevent your child from being disabled. Ability is a temporary condition that the majority of humans get to have in the middle of their lives. We all come into the world profoundly disabled, and a lot of us get a reprieve as adults that we think will go on forever, and then we get disabled again if we’re blessed with long life. That’s the human condition. But quite a few of us don’t even get that period of ability in the middle of life, and we don’t necessarily become disabled because of our genes. Genes are only one factor.

If all fetuses had perfect genes, that wouldn’t eliminate disability.

There would still be premature births if the mother had an emergency, and those could lead to disability. The mother could have any number of accidents or do any number of unwise things while pregnant, which could lead to disability. There would still be cerebral palsy. There would still be babies who caught a terrible infection in those first few weeks of life and had permanent injuries from them. There would be car accidents, earthquakes and floods that leave children disabled. There would be freak injuries at the playground. Your genetically perfect child could catch a streptococcus A infection which you didn’t notice to get them on antibiotics on time, and develop Sydenham’s chorea. The baby could still have a severe struggle with food allergies, because those aren’t necessarily genetic. They could develop cancer, which can have genetic causes and can also be caused by other things. They could be kidnapped and abused, or abused at school or by a relative, or abused by those zealous parents seeking a perfect baby, and the abuse could give them PTSD. They could be severely abused and develop a cluster B personality disorder. What would you do with all of those children, to create your perfect world? Would you eliminate them too?

If every disabled person was eliminated, true, that would prevent a certain amount of suffering. But what else would it eliminate?

Can you imagine a world without musicians like Beethoven, Itzhak Perlman and Ray Charles? Without visual artists like Monet, Van Gogh and Toulouse-Lautrec? Without performers like Carrie Fisher, Robin Williams and Anthony Hopkins? Scientists and academics like Stephen Hawking, Temple Grandin and Albert Einstein? Authors like Dostoevsky and Flannery O’Connor? Political leaders like Abraham Lincoln?

Does a world without any disabled people really sound like a good one?

You know what would be much better than trying to get rid of disabled people to make a perfect world? Trying to make a world that is better for disabled people.

What if, instead of spending thousands of dollars on the perfect embryo, we spent time, money and effort on making a world where every baby that’s born will be welcome for who she or he is?What if every child with a condition found themselves with a whole community of people on their side, who wanted to help them lead a full and happy life? What if every pregnant mom facing a frightening diagnosis could be sure that, if she chooses to bring that baby into the world, the world will be on her side instead of treating her child like a mistake?

Every person reading this is going to be disabled at some point in their lives. Wouldn’t you like to live in a culture where a disability is not an embarrassment?

Start building one.

We shouldn’t have to talk about eugenics. But, since eugenics is a fad again, we have to.

Talk about eugenics. Tell people it’s a stupid idea, and start building a better world.

Mary Pezzulo is the author of Meditations on the Way of the Cross, The Sorrows and Joys of Mary, and Stumbling into Grace: How We Meet God in Tiny Works of Mercy.