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Wesley J. Smith is a senior fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism, and consults for the Patients Rights Council.

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Ashley’s Parents Speak

From First Thoughts

Okay: Now I am getting a touch of the willies about this situation. Here is the Web site of Ashley’s parents. (HT:Bernhardt Varenius)Ashley’s breasts buds were removed to prevent future discomfort. Her appendix was removed as a prophylactic against appendicitis. The parents have ignited . . . . Continue Reading »

More Cornerite Eugenics Apologetics

From First Thoughts

The eugenics string got kicked off the regular Corner dialogue, but I bring it to you here, if you are interested. Stuttaford calls Leon Kass a “crank” because he (Kass)claims that one of the things in life that focuses us, is the knowledge of our mortality. He also claims we should . . . . Continue Reading »

Art Caplan Gets It Right About Ashley

From First Thoughts

I don’t usually agree with Art Caplan, and he doesn’t usually agree with me. But he has it right in this piece that imposing a hysterectomy, mastectomy, and hormonal treatments on a disabled girl to make sure she remained small—while certainly well motivated—went too far. He . . . . Continue Reading »

Oh, I Wish I Was Again in Michigan

From First Thoughts

Michigan has the most enlightened biotech regulatory policy in the country. First, it outlaws all human cloning. Second, it welcomes biotech companies that do ethical research and has a thriving biotech sector. Finally, today, the governor signed into law a measure that will encouraging the banking . . . . Continue Reading »

Enough Scaremongering, Already!

From First Thoughts

UK scientists, who want to make human/animal hybrid cloned embryos for use in stem cell research, are warning that unless they are permitted to proceed as they desire, hundreds of thousands of patients may die. Enough already. We’ve heard it before. Such arguments are just part of the great . . . . Continue Reading »

More Corner Eugenics

From First Thoughts

The Cornerites continue to discuss eugenics. Derbyshire agrees with Stuttaford’s comment that increasing the human capacity to love would be a terrible idea. “Capacity to Love.” He quotes a poem, that seems to say (I am not sure) that love is the cause of great sadness. It can be, . . . . Continue Reading »

On Keeping a Disabled Girl "Small"

From First Thoughts

I have had several requests from readers to comment on the story of the cognitively disabled girl named Ashley, whose parents subjected her to hormone treatments and invasive surgeries (hysterectomy, mastectomy) to keep her “small.” The point of these “treatments” was to . . . . Continue Reading »