Newborn babies should be killed if they have a severely life-limiting condition, a professor claimed in mid-July.
Professor Jerry Coyne predicted that infanticide, the killing of newborn babies, will someday become ‘widespread’ and ‘it will be for the better’.
Coyne, known for his book Why Evolution is True (OUP), believes that the practice will be morally acceptable ‘when religion vanishes’. The University of Chicago professor made the comments on his personal blog.
He said: ‘If you are allowed to abort a foetus that has a severe genetic defect – micro-cephaly, spina bifida, or so on – then why aren’t you able to euthanise that same foetus just after it’s born? ‘I see no substantive difference that would make the former act moral and the latter immoral.’ He said that the reason why the practice is not currently allowed comes from ‘religion’.
‘It’s the same mindset that, in many places, won’t allow abortion of foetuses that have severe deformities. When religion vanishes, as it will, so will much of the opposition to both adult and newborn euthanasia.’
He added: ‘It’s time to add to the discussion the euthanasia of newborns, who have no ability or faculties to decide whether to end their lives.’
