Eugenics As An Applied Science: In Germany It Produced The Concentration Camp; In America It Produced The Abortion Clinic.

Eugenics as an Applied Science: In Germany it Produced the Concentration Camp; In America it Produced the Abortion Clinic.

By Bud Shaver

When the issue of abortion is brought up, there are a wide range of emotions and arguments that immediately flare up. Due to the polarizing effect of the abortion debate, most people tend to rather ignore it; hoping that they can just stop up their ears or close their eyes and it will just go away. While there are many factors contributing to the apathy of the general public, those in the apathetic camp mostly do not wish to rock the proverbial boat. They enjoy their social status and want to do just enough to come across as genuinely sincere and at the same time appear to build bridges with any and every one. A stand for or against abortion would capsize “the boat” and burn all their bridges.

Those who defend the right to abortion (A.K.A. "Pro-Choice/Pro-Abortion") generally do so from two fundamental positions: One is a "Women's Rights" issue: A woman has the fundamental right to exercise control over her own body. The other is a "Eugenic" (or population control) issue: Those in power (i.e. the state) have/has the fundamental right and obligation to dictate whom among the population are deemed "useful" or "valuable" (“wanted” or “unwanted”), so that the population numbers do not spiral out of control. The state found in eugenics the perfect justification for limiting population growth to make room for its more “useful” citizens. Now how to dispose of the “unwanted” has differed, depending on the country in question. {That which is common to both of these positions is "control".}

Those who oppose abortion (A.K.A. "Anti-Abortion/Pro-Life") generally do so from two fundamental positions: One is a "Religious" issue: It comes from the biblical mandate to restore justice and defend the cause of the oppressed.1  It is rooted in the biblical fundamental position that humanity is created in the image of God and thus in a unique position among God's creation.2  It is also grounded in the biblical command: "Thou shall not murder."3 The moral logic is: "It is wrong to intentionally kill [or murder] innocent human beings. Abortion intentionally kills [or murders] an innocent human being. Therefore, abortion is wrong."4  The other is a "Social Justice" issue: It stems from the scientific position that life begins at conception (at conception a biologically distinct human individual comes into existence and at conception fulfills the biological criteria for life, thus is alive 5). Abortion legally kills a (living) biologically distinct human individual; therefore, laws must be changed so that justice is restored to all human individuals. This position asserts that no human individual should be deprived of their most fundamental right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. {That which is common to both of these positions is "justice."}

The justifications asserted by those who promote abortion on demand by the "Women's Right's" movement are fairly well known. However, the eugenic motivations for abortion by those in power (i.e. the state) are not as well known. "The Darwinian-inspired eugenics movement defin[ed] itself as the science of improving heredity...This emphasis on biological inequality stimulated many scientists and physicians to categorize people as 'inferior' or 'superior,' 'more valuable' or less valuable.'... [T]he categories of inferior and superior were more often than not highly subjective and somewhat nebulous, though they generally focused on intelligence and health."6  To understand the mindset of those espousing eugenics, you must understand that they are applying the Darwinian position of the "Survival of the Fittest" and taking it to its logical conclusion (also know as social Darwinism). Here it is presented by Robby Kossmann in his 1880 essay, The Importance of the Life of an Individual in the Darwinian World View, he declared, "that the Darwinian world view must look upon the present sentimental conception of the value of the life of a human individual as an overestimate completely hindering the progress of humanity. The human state also, like every animal community of individuals, must reach an even higher level of perfection, if the possibility exists in it, through the destruction of the less wellendowed individual, for the more excellently endowed to win space for the expansion of its progeny...The state only has an interest in preserving the more excellent life at the expense of the less excellent."7

Adolf Hitler and Nazi Germany realized the application of eugenics based on social Darwinism to control population growth. They saw the lack of Lebensraum or "living space" and responded: "[Germany] Impoverished in 1939 [enacted] policies [that] were fully consonant with Hitler's underlying ideological assumptions: a need for Lebensraum in the east justified by a social Darwinist racism, a contempt for the Slavic population of eastern Europe, and a determination to rid the expanding German Reich of Jews...This basic Nazi plan was also very much in tune with widely held views and hopes in German society concerning the construction of a German empire in the east based on racial and social Darwinist principles."8

When people think of Hitler and Nazi Germany much of the focus is narrowed to the racial component of the Holocaust. However, racism was just the fuel that stoked the eugenic fire. Eugenics established by social Darwinism (fueled by racism among other things) produced the Holocaust. In fact, the concentration camps were designed to euthanize the German handicapped not the Jewish people. "The German handicapped were thus the first group of victims to be systematically gassed by the Nazi regime."9 In fact, "Only after the triumph of Darwinism and along with the rise of the eugenics movement in the early twentieth century did German thinkers begin publicly espousing infanticide for disabled infants."10  The Nazis just applied what they were already doing (euthanizing the German handicapped) to the racial hostility they fostered toward the Jewish people.

The German citizens bought the eugenic rhetoric, “worthless eaters” that was effective in de-humanizing people targeted for extermination. We have bought the eugenic rhetoric, “unwanted pregnancy” that has effectively de-humanized the baby in the womb targeted for extermination. When we address the issue of eugenics in America, we must realize that the only difference between us and the Nazis is that we apply eugenics through the use of abortion not just to our handicapped, but to the healthy as well. Where the Nazis targeted the Jewish people, here in America we target African American's disproportionately to whites (due in most part to our racist past 11). Honestly, however, it really doesn't matter your race, religion, gender, social, or economic status; here in America you can be legally murdered regardless. This is best represented in the number of people exterminated. Nazi Germany exterminated over 12 million in the Holocaust; we have exterminated over 50 million (and counting) since 1973 in America's abortion "holocaust".

The Nazis knew full well that the mass murder of innocent people would have a polarizing effect on the general population, especially among the German churches. So, they used Poland as their training ground and this is what they learned: “The Bydgoszcz terror also encompassed the clergy, as only 17 of 75 Catholic priests were left in their positions. After the ‘extermination of the radical Polish priests’, it was assumed that the survivors were either sufficiently shaken or weak-hearted and apolitical that no further difficulties from the church were expected.”12 The following statement best sums up how the German church leaders will be forever remembered, "In failing to make a stand on principle and in fostering a conspiracy of silence...Even the churches sought accommodation with Nazi Socialism and balked at posing to their adherents the stark choice between Christian morality and loyalty to their country's regime."13

Apathy and silence toward the mass murder perpetuated by our eugenic government by the majority of our church leaders was bought at a much lower price here in America. Hopefully it is not too late for us to quit ignoring the injustice of abortion pushed by the eugenicists of our day. Hopefully we have not sought accommodation with our culture to the point where loyalty to our country overrides Christian morality. How will history judge us?

Stand for life as we oppose abortion and peacefully strive to restore justice to the oppressed who are facing imminent death, not in concentration camps but abortion clinics in our communities.

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1. James 1:27; Isaiah 5:1-7
2. Genesis 1:26-27; 9:6
3. Exodus 20:13 (NASV)
4. Gregory Koukl and Scott Klusendorf, Making Abortion Unthinkable, Stand To Reason, 2001
5. Gregory Koukl and Scott Klusendorf, Making Abortion Unthinkable, Stand To Reason, 2001
6. Richard Weikart, From Hitler To Darwin: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany, (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004), page 2; 90
7. Richard Weikart, From Hitler To Darwin: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany, (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004), page 2
8. Christopher R. Browning, The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942, (Jerusalem: the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, 2004), page 28
9. Christopher R. Browning, The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942, (Jerusalem: the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, 2004), page 191
10. Richard Weikart, From Hitler To Darwin: Evolutionary Ethics, Eugenics, and Racism in Germany, (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2004), page152
11. http://www.maafa21.com/
12. Christopher R. Browning, The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942, (Jerusalem: the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, 2004), page 32
13. Christopher R. Browning, The Origins of the Final Solution: The Evolution of Nazi Jewish Policy, September 1939-March 1942, (Jerusalem: the Holocaust Martyrs’ and Heroes’ Remembrance Authority, 2004), page 21