Abortion and disability or eugenic abortion

A person with a disability has the right to life along with every other member of society: aborting a baby because he or she has, or even might have, a disability, is the ultimate form of discrimination. In Britain, it is legally permitted to abort a baby on grounds of disability up to birth. It is generally assumed that parents will opt for an abortion if pre-natal screening reveals a disability and they are often put under pressure to do so.

9 out of 10 unborn babies diagnosed with spina bifida are aborted. (BBC News Online Surgery Hope for Unborn babies 10 July 2003) A similar proportion of Down's Syndrome babies are aborted. (Trends in prenatal screening for, and diagnosis of, Down's Syndrome: England and Wales, 1989-97 by David Mutton et al. British Medical Journal, 3 October 1998)

Encouraging abortion on grounds of disability encourages negative stereotypes about people with disabilities. In an article published on a pro-abortion website, Anne Furedi, a leading abortion advocate, argued that 'to deny this woman's choice is to condemn her to carry to term and give birth to a child that she may dread and wish dead.' (Ann Furedi How We Can - And Should - Explore Ethical Concerns About Abortion While Remaining Committed to Women's Needs. Hard Choices, Autumn 1999.) Why should a woman 'dread' having a disabled child as though he or she was a monster? There is nothing disgusting about having a disability. What is disgusting is society's inability to give people with disabilities the respect and value that is their right.

Many people argue in favour of aborting disabled babies on the grounds that they are 'better off dead'. How does anyone know this? How can anyone - doctor, parent or member of government - be arrogant enough to decide whether a person should or should not live? Even when babies are born so disabled that they can only live for a short amount of time, they have the right to live out their natural lifespan, however long or short it is.

Some claim that abortion 'prevents' disability but all it does is kill those who happen to have a disability. No doctor would claim to be curing cancer by killing cancer patients.

In May 2003, the International Down Syndrome Screening Conference was held in London. A group of people with Down's syndrome had asked if they could speak at the conference but were not allowed to. They turned up anyway and one of them, Anya Souza, was finally allowed to say something about her own condition. She said: "I can't get rid of my Down's syndrome, but you can't get rid of my happiness. You can't get rid of the happiness I give others either. It's doctors like you that want to test pregnant women and stop people like me being born. Together with my family and friends I have fought to prevent my separation from normal society. I have fought for my rights... I may have Down's syndrome but I am a person first."



© SPUC 2013