Bernard Bard and Joseph Fletcher in The Right to Die originally published in The Atlantic Monthly, 221 (1968 Apr), p. 59-64. . [Source]
[People] have no reason to feel guilty about putting a Down’s syndrome baby away, whether it’s “put away” in the sense of hidden in a sanitarium or in a more responsible lethal sense. It is sad; yes. Dreadful. But it carries no guilt. True guilt arises only from an offense against a person, and a Down’s is not a person. There is no cause for remorse, even though, certainly, there is for regret. Guilt over a decision to end an idiocy would be a false guilt, and probably unconsciously a form of psychic masochism.
There is far more reason for real guilt in keeping alive a Down’s or other kind of idiot, out of a false idea of obligation or duty, while at the same time feeling no obligation at all to save that money and emotion for a living, learning child. The learning child might be a retarded one with a viable potential, or just an orphan in need of adoption.
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I am the father of child with Down’s. It is for sure she is a person. In a way, a more intelligent one than Fletcher/Bard. She has real respect for life. Even though the book or article was written at a time when not much was known about the real potential of persons with Down’s, this cannot serve as an excuse for the disrespectful, horrible statement towards human life in general.
Ulf/Germany, an eight-year-old Down-girl’s father, in 2016
People who think they are intelligent and are not is bad but other people who listen to these people or even believe them are even more puzzling.Thank god he never had power.How did HItler get the power???
From a proud Irishman with a beautiful daughter with Down’s syndrome.
Actions speak louder than words,violent philosophers bullied by their envoironment,grow up to preach violence on paper.Get a life go smoke some pot,or steal a car.
You are sick. These are human beings. Should you be killwd because you’re stupid?
Sadly enough, Bard and Fletcher were not the first to think killing people with differences was a good idea, so did Adolph Hitler. We are all made in the image of God and someday every knee will bow and every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, some with joy and gratitude, but for others, with horror at impending eternal judgment.
I would recommend the following video on the inspirational story of a young man with down’s syndrome below.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EJ6D8z6BFz8
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