Glenn Beck to advocates of aborting Down syndrome babies: 'This is how it started in Nazi Germany

In an opinion editorial for The Washington Post, columnist Ruth Marcus wrote that all women should have the right to abort a baby with Down syndrome or any "child whose intellectual capacity will be impaired, whose life choices will be limited, whose health may be compromised ... this means limited capacity for independent living and financial security; Down syndrome is life-altering for the entire family."

A mother of two,  Marcus argued that if she had found out during either one of her pregnancies that her unborn child had Down syndrome, she would have terminated the pregnancy, “without hesitation … tragic as it would have felt and ghastly as a second-trimester abortion would have been ... I’m going to be blunt here: That was not the child I wanted. That was not the choice I would have made. You can call me selfish, or worse, but I am in good company."

On today's show, Glenn compared Marcus' argument that a "genetic anomaly or defect justifies an abortion," to Hitler's kinder-euthanasia campaign in Nazi Germany.

"When we look at the Nazi regime, we like to comfort ourselves with the idea that it couldn't happen here," said Glenn. "But it's happening here right now, and the op-ed by Ruth Marcus in the Washington Post is a reminder that we are not better than the Germans, but we better get there quickly."

Glenn wasn't the only one with an impassioned response:

Monstrous evil unashamedly displayed. You would never say that women need the right to abort, say, a fetus predisposed to be gay, or a fetus predisposed to be alcoholic, or a fetus predisposed to be (*cough*China*cough*) female. https://t.co/vTSprDqjaw

— Gabriel Malor (@gabrielmalor) March 10, 2018

Here is the reality. Here is the truth.

We have been slowly but surely eradicating Down Syndrome in the West by destroying these children before they are born.

History will not leave this without judgment.

— Ben Domenech (@bdomenech) March 10, 2018

A 2011 study found that nearly 99% of people with Down syndrome over the age of 12 said they were happy with their lives. 99% said they loved their families. 97% said they liked their brothers and sisters. 86% felt they could make friends easily. https://t.co/zSXpNiZO2d

— Alexandra DeSanctis (@xan_desanctis) March 10, 2018

What was the Kinder-Euthanasia or T-4 Program?

In 1939, Nazi Germany launched a massive campaign to eliminate what they termed, "life unworthy of life." Hitler began an euthanasia program called T-4, which systematically rid the country of anyone who was mentally or physically 'imperfect.'

The campaign first targeted "undesirable" babies, namely those with Down syndrome, mental disabilities, or physical deformities. But the list of undesirables quickly grew to include orphans, the elderly, adults in mental institutions, the deaf, epileptics, and eventually all children under 16.

When the people of Nazi Germany discovered what was being done to these children, there was a public outcry for the killing to stop. As a result, Hitler publicly ordered an end to the T-4 program but Nazi leaders continued in secret until the end of the war.

Watch the video clip above to hear Glenn fill in the details of Nazi Germany's Kinder-Euthanasia campaign.

To see the full episode, subscribers of TheBlaze can watch “Glenn” live weekdays 5-6 p.m. ET or on demand here.

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March 21 is World Down Syndrome Day: