Dear All,
On the way home this evening I chanced across the Radio 4 programme The
Moral Maze which this week was asking 'Whose baby is it anyway?'. I had
spent the day at work (at the Holocaust Centre in Nottinghamshire)
planning an event for 11th May to remember the disabled people who were
persecuted, sterilised and killed during the Holocaust.
Some of the prejudiced and negative views expressed in this programme
about disability, in relation to the current Human Fertilisation and
Embryology Bill (which is currently going through Parliament), made me
further reflect on why it is important that the historical context behind
this issue is discussed more widely.
If you missed this debate it is being repeated on Saturday at 10.15 - 11am
and is currently available on-line via:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/radio4/religion/moralmaze.shtml?focuswin
The programme is described as follows on the Moral Maze webpage:
How far should parental choice be allowed when it comes to selecting
embryos for IVF? Some deaf parents and disability charities say they're
being discriminated against because the Human Fertilisation and Embryology
Bill, which is currently going through Parliament, would make it illegal
for parents undergoing embryo screening to choose an embryo with an
abnormality if healthy embryos exist.
Concepts of equality and parental choice sit uneasily when the result
means deliberately creating a baby with a disability. The science in this
field is becoming increasingly powerful and so those choices will only
multiply, but how is that changing our attitude and understanding of what
it is to be human?
Best wishes,
Heather Hollins,
Senior Access and Heritage Officer, The Holocaust Centre,
PhD student, University of Leicester.
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