Commentary: Opponents need to stop equating abortion with eugenics

Among the dubious points that U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk makes in his recent ruling suspending the Food and Drug Administration’s authorization of mifepristone is that abortion is part of the now-reviled practice of eugenics.

That clinical-sounding word refers to the appalling and scientifically incorrect theory that was promoted in the past by government and prominent civic leaders — and even the U.S. Supreme Court — to justify the forced sterilization of women and men deemed feeble-minded, mentally ill, criminal or poor to prevent them from bearing offspring who might sully the gene pool.

In his decision, now blocked by the Supreme Court, Kacsmaryk quoted a 2019 opinion by Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas noting that “abortion has proved to be a disturbingly effective tool for implementing the discriminatory preferences that undergird eugenics.”

Kacsmaryk’s reference to eugenics came out of the blue near the end of his opinion, apparently in response to a declaration from economist Jason Lindo — submitted as part of the government’s court filings — that taking easily accessed medication abortion pills off the market would make... see more