Social Icons

Saturday 22 September 2012

Dehumanisation

Both the Scotland Herald and the BBC are reporting that smokers and fat people cannot receive IVF in Scotland.  The Beeb says:
The health board said it would no longer provide treatment to couples if either of them smoked, or if doctors considered the woman to be overweight.
The Herald says:
NHS Fife is thought to be the first in Scotland to stipulate both partners must be non-smokers, as well as the female having particular body mass, before they will even be considered for the treatment.
We have come so far down the dirty, slippery path of denormalisation that we're now firmly on the road of the dehumanisation phase of anti-smoker tyranny.  Smokers and fat women cannot receive treatment that any other person is entitled to have.  Essentially, smokers and the overweight are not allowed to breed.  I cannot help but wonder when the NHS will target drinkers.

Full disclosure:  I do not believe that anyone has a right to spawn. Some people cannot have children, due to no fault of their own. They were dealt a shite genetic hand in life, and I do feel for them. I also think it is rather awesome that we have medical technology to help those people. But that doesn't mean everyone is entitled to have children, no matter what governments say.

However, since the government does say that everyone has a right to children, then it is utterly wrong and inhumane to exclude smokers and chubby folk whilst everyone else gets a shot at IVF. We either have a NHS that treats everyone equally, or we have no NHS at all.  Discriminatory refusal to treat one group of people over another is evil and fascist.

The people at NHS Fife responsible for this new policy are hateful scumbags. I hope they all rot in hell.

large woman smoking
Sign of the times: Denormalisation = Dehumanisation
People like this woman are not entitled to healthcare, IVF, or common decency and respect
Image via tobacccoworld.org