Feiffer Follow-up

Reilly’s view that Feiffer’s incisive pro-choice cartoon of July 23 is “obscene” reflects an appallingly anthropocentric view of the human species. Whether or not we are willing to acknowledge it, Homo sapiens is subject to natural selection just like any other organism.

We may relish a moment of personal satisfaction when we defy natural selection by forbidding a pregnant female the choice to abort an unwanted embryo or when we artificially prolong the life of a genetically inferior individual through the intervention of modern medicine. But in doing this we are incrementally decreasing the survivability and quality of life of the human species by allowing socially or genetically unfit individuals to reach reproductive age.

And even if they don’t reproduce, individuals who are unable or unwilling to make a meaningful contribution to society have a tremendous social cost. And as one socially aware person stated, “If you aren’t making a meaningful contribution to society you’re just taking up space.”

Eugenics? I think not--just good biology.

(I am a biologist and have been a curator of insects at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County for 19 years.)

JULIAN P. DONAHUE

Los Angeles