Whether it was Icelanders boasting about killing their unborn children with Down syndrome or white supremacists and counter protestors clashing in Charlottesville, last week’s news was filled with stories that show prejudice and violence come in many different forms.
Although these events took place thousands of miles and an ocean apart, they have one thing in common — they involve one group of people pronouncing their superiority over another which they consider to be inferior based on some arbitrary determination. Such prejudice begins with hateful rhetoric and usually ends with the taking of innocent life.
In Iceland, the victims have been unborn children — perhaps the most vulnerable, innocent, and persecuted demographic in the world — who were targeted simply on account of a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome. Despite the fact that people with Down syndrome are some of the happiest people on the planet and report 99 percent satisfaction with their lives, abortionists in Iceland have taken away nearly 100 percent of their lives since prenatal screening tests were introduced in the early 2000s.
Health “experts” claim that they have eliminated a genetic disorder, presenting it as a medical accomplishment to be applauded. However, Iceland has not eliminated Down syndrome by developing a cure to the disease, but rather by killing unborn children who through no fault of their own possess an extra copy of chromosome 21. The Down syndrome babies’ extra chromosomes makes them inferior, and that inferiority subjects them to the death penalty — at least, according to these experts’ reasoning.
And unfortunately, this is not the only recent case of some persons declaring others’ lives to be inferior and not worth living.
Following the footsteps of notorious figures such as Adolph Hitler, who killed millions of Jews, and Planned Parenthood’s founder Margaret Sanger, who worked to “exterminate the Negro population,” white supremacists and other racist groups have moved back into the spotlight in the U.S., arguing that ethnic background is a determinant of superiority and inferiority. When something as ludicrous as skin color or race is used to place value on a person’s life, victimized groups are penalized for being born with the “wrong” color of skin. Once again, differences are used to determine people’s dignity.
A person should never be considered inferior on account of a biological difference — whether it be how many chromosomes he or she is born with or what the color is of his or her skin. Anyone who condemns racism should also condemn the elimination of a whole group of people through abortion. Conversely, anyone who condemns the killing of babies with Down syndrome should also condemn white supremacy. Both are based on prejudice and both should not be tolerated.
Photo credit: Karla Cote via Flickr / Public Domain image
