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A Disabled Girl’’s Rights

Wesley J. Smith
February 2, 2007
Human Exceptionalism
 Original Article

To the Editor:

Peter Singer (“A Convenient Truth,” Op-Ed, Jan. 26) supports subjecting “Ashley,” a profoundly intellectually disabled girl, to surgical and hormonal interventions to keep her small.

In backing her parents’ decision, he asserts that she has value only “because her parents and siblings love her and care about her.”

By denying Ashley’s equal moral worth simply for being human, Mr. Singer opens the door to the potential for terrible oppression.

After all, if we must demonstrate minimal capacities to earn full moral status, the entire concept of universal human rights becomes untenable.

Wesley J. Smith

Castro Valley, Calif.

Jan. 26, 2007

The writer, a senior fellow in bioethics at the Discovery Institute, is the author of a book about medical ethics.

Wesley J. Smith

Chair and Senior Fellow, Center on Human Exceptionalism
Wesley J. Smith is Chair and Senior Fellow at the Discovery Institute’s Center on Human Exceptionalism. Wesley is a contributor to National Review and is the author of 14 books, in recent years focusing on human dignity, liberty, and equality. Wesley has been recognized as one of America’s premier public intellectuals on bioethics by National Journal and has been honored by the Human Life Foundation as a “Great Defender of Life” for his work against suicide and euthanasia. Wesley’s most recent book is Culture of Death: The Age of “Do Harm” Medicine, a warning about the dangers to patients of the modern bioethics movement.