A University of Chicago professor argued in support of euthanasia for extremely sick or deformed newborns, according to a Thursday report from The College Fix.

Jerry Coyne, an ecology and evolution professor at the university, made the case in a July post on his personal blog, reported The College Fix.

“If you are allowed to abort a fetus that has a severe genetic defect, microcephaly, spina bifida, or so on, then why aren’t you able to euthanize that same fetus just after it’s born?” asked Coyne in his post.

“I see no substantive difference that would make the former act moral and the latter immoral,” continued the professor. “After all, newborn babies aren’t aware of death, aren’t nearly as sentient as an older child or adult, and have no rational faculties to make judgments (and if there’s severe mental disability, would never develop such faculties).”

Coyne cites Princeton University philosopher Peter Singer and argues that such newborns’ lives should be terminated not only with the withdrawal of care, but also via injection, provided the doctors and parents’ consent.

“After all, we euthanize our dogs and cats when to prolong their lives would be torture, so why not extend that to humans?” reasons the professor. “Dogs and cats, like newborns, can’t make such a decision, and so their caregivers take the responsibility.”

Coyne believes that religion distinguishes between humans, cats and dogs, deeming the former group “special.” He believes that “when religion vanishes, as it will, so will much of the opposition to both adult and newborn euthanasia.”

The Daily Caller News Foundation reached out to Coyne and the University of Chicago for comment, but received none in time for publication.

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