France: The birth of an extraordinary cruel law

The Catholic church and its co-goers have marched another step forward in France. "No one may claim to have been prejudiced by the simple fact of their birth…" starts a new bill, approved by the French parliament in January 2002. It curbs a ruling of the Supreme Court from November 2000, which had awarded severely handicapped children the legal right to have never been born.

This ruling came out in the following case: In the early stages of her pregnancy, Josette got infected with measles. Since such an infection poses a high risk for the unborn child to suffer severe damages, this would have been a strong medical indication for abortion. But her neglegent doctors failed to alert her about the danger and thereby denied her the chance to undergo an abortion in time. Some months later, she gave birth to Nicolas, a severely mentally handicapped, deaf and almost blind child. She sued her doctors on behalf of Nicolas and won the case after a long legal battle. When her son was already a teenager, the Supreme Court awarded him compensation.

The ruling of the Supreme Court had a controversial implication. It was based on the theoretical concept of Nicolas' legal right to have never been born (corresponding with Josette's legal right to undergo an abortion in the interest of her severely damaged unborn child). And here started the chorus of pious life-protectors its well-known song with all the ingredients to unleash a highly emotional public debate and great confusion. They were supported by a certain section of pre-natal practitioners and ultra-sound specialists, who feared the ruling would open the gates for a flood of compensation claims against them, and by some organizations for handicapped, who hoped more members would give them more power to fight for their rights. Under this pressure the new bill was passed.

It is, despite the rolling drums of ethics and humaneness, an extraordinary cruel law. It is a license to push knowingly and willingly or just carelessly a human being into a life of unimaginable suffering, humiliation and hopelessness. In a time, where we are scientifically well equipped to anticipate and prevent this catastrophe, how dare we assume the right to condemn a child to be born into hell?

How humane and friendly is, on the other side, the concept that with its birth every child is granted the chance for a healthy, happy and meaningful life! This would include a generally healthy body and mind, health care, nutrition, education, sufficient space, access to nature, the freedom to decide how and where and with whom together to live, the chance to unfold and use its capacities, and much more. Wouldn't it be a great welcome gesture for its new member, if society expressed its respect and well wishing by considering all these as birthrights? And in case, these cannot be granted for technical reasons, wouldn't it be fair to grant the potential child the legal right not to be born?

We are far away from a world ruled to this degree by human dignity. But the proposal of the French Supreme Court has, in a very modest way, turned the guide post in the right direction by awarding a potential child the right on a good life. The right to have a good life is something fundamentally different from the duty to live under whatsoever conditions. It includes the right to end your life, if it has become unacceptable for you, as well as the duty to prevent a new life's beginning, if it would be a condemnation to a life term of torture. Whenever possible, this should be done by way of contraception, abortion being reserved as an emergency solution. This would be the duty of any civilized society, and it would have to be translated into laws, giving responsibilities to executive institutions like parents, legal and medical advisers in charge, and enforcing them.

USA: Reproductive Genetics Institute reports medical milestone

In the Journal of the American Medical Association, the Chicago based Reproductive Genetics Institute reports a medical milestone: a baby girl, born some 15 months ago, was according to her mother's genetic designs almost certainly bound to get Alzheimer's. Successful scientific intervention into the process of conception, however, guarded against the transmission of the disease, and she was born healthy.

The Reproductive Genetics Institute published documents and details of its pioneer procedure called Preimplantation Genetic Diagnosis (PGD). The woman's eggs were collected from her ovaries, fertilized in a laboratory and subjected to prenatal genetic screening. After eliminating all eggs, in which the genetic mutation codes of Alzheimer's could be identified, four healthy embryos were transferred to her womb, resulting in the birth of a healthy child.

The 33-year-old mother, herself a geneticist, had opted for scientific assistance for the birth of her child, since she knew that she was carrying a gene of a rare form of Alzheimer's, which usually starts showing symptoms as early as in the thirties. She herself had not shown any symptom so far, but her father and two siblings were suffering from the disease.

France: Academy of Sciences demands Dr. Shaikh's release

Prof. Jean-Claude Pecker, leading astrophysicist and rationalist in France and Honorary Associate of Rationalist International, reports that the French Academy of Sciences has taken action on behalf of Dr. Younus Shaikh, who is condemned to death for "blasphemy" in Pakistan. As representative of the Academy of Sciences, Prof. Pecker met the Head Speaker of Pakistan to the Plenary of UNESCO and formally forwarded a demand for Dr. Shaikh's immediate and unconditional release.

(For information about Dr. Shaikh's case, please visit our web site: http://www.rationalistinternational.net )

Singapore: No scarf at school!

The ministry of education in Singapore has taken a strict stand against two six- and seven-year-old Muslim girls, suspending them from their primary schools for wearing headscarves in classroom. Nurul Nasihan and Siti Farwizan Mohammed Kassim had missed the deadline set to them to abandon the traditional Malay Muslim tudungs they used to wear with their school uniforms, and the authorities decided, not to tolerate this violation of the dress code any longer. The tudung is a special headgear, which is in pious Muslim families obligatory for young girls, as soon as they reach puberty, and often used far earlier. It covers head and neck, leaving the oval of the face free. Nizrul and Siti had started their first year in school one month ago.

"The wearing of the school uniform is an important means of building unity among the students without distinction of race, religion and social status", explained the ministry in a published statement, which has obviously found wide acceptance. Nurul's father Mohammed, anyway, has already decided to cooperate. "What can I do?" he is quoted. "My daughter's education is as important for me as my faith, my religion".

Singapore has a mixed population, consisting ethnically of a great Chinese majority, a Malay and an Indian community. While nearly all Malays are Muslims, the Chinese population is Buddhist and Taoist, but also Christian, the Indian population is partly Muslim and partly Hindu. The government is very careful to promote social cohesion and obviously successful with its policy. After violent race riots in 1964, the country is enjoying ethnical and communal harmony during the last several decades.

USA: Lawsuit for child abuse makes Hare Krishna bankrupt

Twelve Hare Krishna temples in the USA have to declare bankrupt this month. That is about one fourth of the total number of temples. All temples are incorporated separately. Though the headquarters of the International Society for Krishna Consciousness (ISKCON) in Maryland are officially trying to play the situation down, the Hare Krishna movement is facing a major break down, which may not end here. What sets the bankruptcy avalanche rolling and has member numbers dwindling, is a lawsuit against ISKCON, which has revealed a scandal of enormous dimension.

In June 2000, 91 former students of ISKCON boarding schools in the USA filed a $400-million lawsuit in a federal court in Dallas, accusing senior gurus of sexual, physical and emotional torture of minor boys and girls ranging in age from three to 18 years. The examples of the alleged abuse included sexual abuse including rape, oral sex and intercourse with children, sexual fondling of children, masturbation with children, physical beating of children with boards, branches, clubs and poles, beating with fists on head and stomach and kicking the children into submission. According to witnesses, more than 1000 children have been victimized. Many of them have already taken their own lives or have become emotionally and socially dysfunctional.

The first school established by ISKCON commenced operation in 1972 and was located in Dallas. By 1978, there were a total of 11 schools in North America. To avoid policing and scrutiny by US child protection agencies, the suit says, ISKCON moved a great deal of its boarding school activities to India. The Indian schools were among the worst offenders and abusers of minor boys, and many of the Indian school teachers and leaders were also teachers, leaders and abusers in United States schools.

Defendants in the lawsuit are 18 ISKCON institutions and 30 individuals, most of them members of its governing body commission. They stand accused of having "enriched themselves" by granting special favors to fundraisers and donors, among them drug dealers and other criminals. The alleged "special favors" included, for example, granting teaching positions to sexual predators, giving them access to children for their sexual gratification; giving young girls from the schools as brides to elderly donors; giving "asylum" to fugitive criminals by creating a ring of protection around them, accommodating those dealing illegally with arms and drugs as well as murderers in the ISKCON enterprise.