<!doctype html public "-//W3C//DTD W3 HTML//EN"> <html><head><style type="text/css"></style><title>Protest against Singer's views</title></head><body> <div align="center"><font size="+1"><b>Since a few lboers live in CA.</b></font></div> <div align="center"><font size="+1"><b>marta</b></font></div> <div align="center"><font size="+1"><b><br></b></font></div> <div align="center"><font size="+1"><b>A CALL TO ACTION</b></font></div> <div> </div> <div>        A protest is being held to challenge the ableist and offensive views of controversial bioethicist Dr. Peter Singer.  His views have opened up a clamor of disgust, fear, and anger among disability rights advocates, especially after his vehemantly protested appointment as the head of the Bioethics Department at Princeton University.</div> <div> </div> <div>        This protest will be an informational picket.</div> <div> </div> <div>For more info call (510) 841-6406</div> <div> </div> <div align="center"> </div> <div align="center"><font size="+1"><b>WE CANNOT ALLOW HIM TO COME TO THE BIRTHPLACE OF THE DISABILITY RIGHTS MOVEMENT UNCHALLENGED!!!!</b></font></div> <div align="center" >           <span ></span>        </div> <div> </div> <div><b>WHEN:</b>  June 7, 2002, 6:00 PM</div> <div> </div> <div><b>WHERE:</b>  Calvin Simmons Theater, Henry J. Kaiser Auditorium</div> <div >           <span ></span>      10th Street</div> <div >           <span ></span>      Oakland, CA</div> <div >           <span ></span >           <span ></span>          (near Lake Merritt BART)</div> <div> </div> <div>Here are a few of Singer's views that exemplify why he is a threat to not only our equality, but our lives.</div> <div> </div> <div>*****************<br> </div> <ul> <li>Singer advocates making it legal to kill disabled infants up to 28 days after birth as well as older "non-persons with disabilities." <li>"When the death of a disabled infant will lead to the birth of another infant with better prospects of a happy life, the total amount of happiness will be greater if the disabled infant is killed ... killing a disabled infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person. Very often it is not wrong at all." - Peter Singer <li>Certain adults to whom labels such as "persistent vegetative state" (PVS), "profound mental retardation" and "dementia" are attached may also be killed with less justification, according to Singer. <li>"When the death of a disabled infant will lead to the birth of another infant with better prospects of a happy life, the total amount of happiness will be greater if the disabled infant is killed." - Peter Singer <li>He explicitly holds that infants are not persons with a right to life and that "there will be permissible exceptions to the rule against killing infants that will not apply to the rule against killing adults and children." <li>Another justification Singer offers for killing a "non-person" is that it frees "persons," or society, from what they may see as the "burden" imposed by the life of a "non-person."</ul> <div>"We know that once our children's lives are properly underway, we will become committed to them; for that very reason, many couples do not want to bring up a child if they fear that both the child's life and their own experience of child-rearing will be clouded by a major disability." - Dr. Peter Singer in "Rethinking Life and Death, "</div> <div><br></div> <div>***********************************</div> <div>FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:<br> Contact:<br> Blane N. Beckwith<br> 510-841-6406<br> Email: blane10@juno.com<br> Ruthanne Shpiner<br> 510-524-9680<br> Email: ruthannes@earthlink.net<br> Disability Rights Advocates to Stage Protest Against Peter Singer<br> When: June 7, 2002<br> 6:00 PM<br> Where: Calvin Simmons Theater<br> Henry J. Kaiser Convention Center<br> 10 10th Street<br> Oakland, CA<br> Why:<br> This protest is being held to oppose the viewpoint of Peter Singer, head<br> of the Bioethics Dept. at Princeton University. The event he will be<br> appearing at will be a debate between Singer and Nigel Cameron of the<br> Center for Bioethics & Culture.<br> Singer's views are ableist because they contribute to the mistaken belief<br> that persons with severe disabilities are not on an equal level with<br> able-bodied persons. As a bioethicist, he advocates that these beliefs be<br> translated into discriminatory health care and law enforcement policies<br> that would allow the killing of disabled people for utilitarian reasons.<br> His views are partly aimed at disabled children, and he advocates<br> infanticide and extermination. He has been quoted in his book "Practical<br> Ethics" saying, "When the death of a disabled infant will lead to the<br> birth of another infant with better prospects of a happy life, the total<br> amount of happiness will be greater if the disabled infant is killed ...<br> killing a disabled infant is not morally equivalent to killing a person.</div> <div>Very often it is not wrong at all."<br> Singer advocates making it legal to kill disabled infants up to 28 days<br> after birth as well as older "non-persons with disabilities." Older<br> "non-persons" would include people with labels of severe and profound<br> "mental retardation," people with severe brain injuries, such as Robert<br> Wendland (whose wife's quest for the legal right to withhold<br> life-sustaining treatment was rejected by the California Supreme Court<br> last year, though the ruling came too late to save his life), and people<br> with advanced Alzheimer's Disease or other dementias. We condemn his<br> endorsement of both infanticide and extermination.<br> Persons with disabilities are battling hard against marginalization and<br> blatant discrimination, we cannot allow Singer's ableist views to be<br> expressed unchallenged. The voice of so-called experts like Dr Singer is<br> loud when policy makers draft and enforce legislation which affects<br> disabled people. His views are life threatening. Singer's writings on<br> ethics are widely used as textbooks in mandatory ethics courses for<br> health care professionals across the country. Unchallenged, Dr Singer is<br> a danger to our struggle for independence and equality.<br> Singer advocates depriving people with disabilities, from the youngest to</div> <div>the oldest, of the equal protection of the law. Not since slavery has a</div> <div>minority group in the U.S. been the subject of such a devastatingly</div> <div>blatant attack on our basic right to exist under the Constitution.</div> <div><br></div> <div><br></div> <x-sigsep><pre>-- </pre></x-sigsep> <div>Marta Russell<br> Los Angeles, CA<br> http://www.disweb.org</div> </body> </html>