Australian-born philosopher Peter Singer wrote in his 1985 book Should the Baby Live? The Problem of Handicapped Infants, that parents should have the right to kill a baby that's born disabled — and not just have the right to do it, but in some instances that disabled babies literally should be killed. Yes, he was talking about killing babies after they were born. And he even wrote that parents should have the right to kill a child within 28 days of birth.
In 2005, Time magazine named Peter Singer one of the 100 most influential people in the world. He specialises in applied ethics, approaching ethical issues from a secular perspective. But after showing up on ABC Television’s Q&A, maybe he might have wished he hadn’t.
Unborn baby Zoe’s life must be recognised … with Zoe’s Law
Monday, 24 May 2010
According to existing NSW law, unborn baby Zoe was not a human being because, despite spending eight months in her mother’s womb, the baby did not take a breath. Unborn baby Zoe was killed when her heavily pregnant mother was run down on Christmas Day by a 40 year old driver high on drugs. Still to be heard in court, the culpable driver’s charges are limited to driving under the influence of drugs and dangerous driving causing grievous bodily harm to Ms Donegan, not unborn baby Zoe.
The claim, recently published in academic journals and newspapers, that a majority of Australians support "choice" on abortion is an exaggeration. In fact surveys show that Australians are inconsistent, perhaps even contradictory in their views on this issue, with results generally depending on the way that the question is asked. In general, Australians would prefer to see fewer abortions and regard late terms abortions as worse than terminations of less mature foetuses.
It is actually Victoria's new, extreme pro-abortion laws that represent a "yawning gap" with public opinion. Although most Victorians are not aware of it, the Abortion Act of 2008 now forces doctors and other medical personnel to be complicit in abortions - and even to perform them in some circumstances. This applies even to those medicos who know that abortion kills innocent people.
Dozens of people who were blinded or otherwise suffered severe eye damage when they were splashed with caustic chemicals have had their sight restored with transplants of their own stem cells, a stunning success for the burgeoning cell-therapy field, Italian researchers reported last week.
The treatment worked completely in 82 of 107 eyes and partially in 14 others, with benefits lasting up to a decade so far. One man whose eyes were severely damaged more than 60 years ago now has near-normal vision.