A chara, – Juliana Adelman's article on the dark history of the eugenics movement is very welcome ("Social agendas dressed up as science", February 9th). Great credit to the author is due for her reference to "the strong links" between eugenics proponents and the "the birth control movement and its leaders in the US and Britain". These "leaders" included Margaret Sanger, a pioneer of Planned Parenthood in the US, and Marie Stopes in the UK. The legacy of both of these leaders includes two of the largest abortion providers in the US and UK.
Perhaps the most chilling reminder of the eugenic philosophy today is the systematic elimination through abortion of Down syndrome babies in such countries as Denmark and Sweden, with government programmes promising to “reduce the incidence of Down syndrome to zero” in the next 10 years. The dark shadow of eugenics closer to home is the fact that, according to UK NHS records, over 90 per cent of babies in the womb identified with Down syndrome are aborted. – Yours, etc,
RAYMOND McINTYRE,
Mullingar,
Co Westmeath.