Eugenic abortion is a term that refers to the termination of pregnancy due to a diagnosed genetic defect in a fetus. This expression began to be used regularly in Polish political rhetoric from 2022. The decision of the Constitutional Tribunal of October 22, 2022. recognizing eugenic abortion as inconsistent with the Polish Constitution made this term appear in all media and social discussions about the right to abortion. So where did the phrase: eugenic abortion and what does it really mean?
Eugenic abortion: genesis of the name
To understand the term eugenic abortion, you first need to know if there is eugenics itself.
The word: eugenics comes from the ancient Greek language and means: well-born. The concept of eugenics was introduced in 1869 by Francis G alton, a British traveler, naturalist, doctor, writer, precursor of research on intelligence, privately - related to Charles Darwin.
Originally, Francis G alton defined eugenics as the activity of such selective breeding of animals and humans to improve species from generation to generation - especially in terms of heritable traits.
In the following years, G alton slightly modified the definition of eugenics by breaking it down into:
- positive eugenics - encouraging more frequent reproduction of the best individuals,
- negative eugenics - discouraging the reproduction of less valuable individuals.
Contemporary eugenics is more of a view, a certain trend of thought, which assumes the possibility of improving the hereditary features of a species and creating conditions for it that the positive features develop and the negative features are limited. And to create these conditions, such noble activities as, for example, promoting pro-he alth behavior in terms of physical condition and mental he alth, fighting venereal diseases and shaping conscious parenting are used.
However, the use of negative eugenics by National Socialist regimes, especially during World War II, with the aim of exterminating entire national and ethnic groups, has made eugenics a mostly negative association. It is equated with the elimination of undesirable individuals from society in order to stop the spread of "harmfulgenes ".
Eugenic abortion: what is it?
The expression: eugenic abortion is colloquially defined as the termination of pregnancy due to severe genetic diseases resulting from an abnormal number of chromosomes in the DNA chain and related to them developmental defects occurring in an unborn child.
These conditions include:
- Down syndrome - chromosome 21 trisomy,
- Edwards syndrome - chromosome 18 trisomy,
- Patau syndrome - chromosome 13 trisomy,
- Warkany syndrome - chromosome 8 trisomy
- anencephaly and microcephaly - conditions in which either the head and brain are either not fully developed, or only their seeds or fragments are formed.
The above syndromes of malformations are diagnosed in screening tests and invasive prenatal tests - most often amniocentesis. All these conditions are irreversible and incurable.
Eugenic abortion: legal status
Term: eugenic abortion has no legal force. It is part of the political and social discussion of supporters and opponents of abortion.
Currently, abortion is illegal in Poland. Polish law, namely: the Act on family planning, protection of the human fetus and conditions for the admissibility of termination of pregnancy of January 7 of 1993, provides for the possibility of terminating a pregnancy only in 3 situations:
- when there is a reasonable suspicion that the pregnancy resulted from a prohibited act - rape, incestuous violence (up to the 12th week of pregnancy),
- when pregnancy poses a threat to the life or he alth of a pregnant woman,
- when prenatal tests or other indications indicate a high probability of irreversible impairment of the fetus or a life-threatening disease. Abortion is then possible until the fetus is old enough to survive outside the mother's body. In this case, the decision on the possibility of terminating the pregnancy is made by a doctor or a special committee, but the final decision rests with the child's parents.
When pregnancy is terminated for the latter reason, the procedure is called eugenic abortion. However, the use of this name in the context of termination of pregnancy with severe genetic defects is a major abuse.
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