Designer Defects

Parents deliberately screen embryos to make sure they have the same disabilities as themselves. Mostly a phenomenon among the deaf or those with dwarfism, groups that have created a rather militant identity politics regarding their disabilities.

They justify this by saying parents should be able to have kids just like themselves.

More defensible, but still very troubling, parents are using medical techniques to freeze their daughter's growth so that she remains a child forever. Now, she is severely mentally impaired and will never grow intellectually past the toddler stage. But while a hysterectomy might be a smart move later in life, is it necessary before age nine, when she doesn't leave her house? (Actually, she never leaves her bed.)

And -- they are artificially stunting her physical growth just to make it easier to move her?

Bizarre.

Thanks to K-Lo at NRO and yls, respectively.

posted by Ace at 04:01 PM

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