‘This couple wants a deaf child. Should we try to stop them?’
March 9th, 2008From the [UK] Observer:
The British government’s Human Fertilization and Embryology (HFE) bill, set to pass the House of Commons this spring, will block any attempt by deaf couples to use modern medical techniques to ensure that their children are deaf. Members of the deaf community are affronted by the bill, and say it sends a strong message that the government thinks deaf people are better off not being born.
Paula Garfield, a theater director, and her partner, Tomato Lichy, an artist and designer, are featured. They and their daughter are deaf and they are hoping to have a second child, whom they also wish to be deaf.
Said Lichy, “It is a cornerstone of modern society and law that deaf and hearing people have equal rights. If hearing people were to have the right to throw away a deaf embryo, then we as deaf people should also have the right to throw away a hearing embryo.”
From the BBC: Is it wrong to select a deaf embryo?
This entry was posted
on Sunday, March 9th, 2008 at 3:01 pm and is filed under NOT2BEMISSED, abortion, assisted reproduction, deaf/hearing impairment, law, prenatal diagnosis.
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