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Ashley Wannabes

The Telegraph has the story of a single mother of a 14-year-old with cerebral palsy who wants her daughter to have a hysterectomy. She is fully supportive of Ashley’s parents, who appear to have set off the debate that they wanted.We are in danger of emotionalism overtaking sound medical . . . . Continue Reading »

Ashley’s Parents Speak

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 »

Brave New Bioethics Podcast on Ashley

The media have been increasingly interested in the story of Ashley, the disabled girl given hormones and surgeries to keep her from maturing. This includes overseas and in Canada and so I was asked by the Discovery Institute to do a podcast on the matter. I did. Here it . . . . Continue Reading »

More Cornerite Eugenics Apologetics

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

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

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!

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

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 »

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