Frivolous Late Term Abortions

A British site, Daily Mail, posted this story yesterday about late term abortions in the U.K (excerpts below):

The ethical storm over abortions has been renewed as it emerged that terminations are being carried out for minor, treatable birth defects.

Late terminations have been performed in recent years because the babies had club feet, official figures show. Other babies were destroyed because they had webbed fingers or extra digits. Such defects can often be corrected with a simple operation or physiotherapy.

The revelation sparked fears that abortion is increasingly being used to satisfy couples' desire for the 'perfect' baby.

A leading doctor said people were right to be 'totally shocked' that abortions were being carried out for such conditions. Campaigners warned we are turning into a society that can no longer tolerate imperfection.

Ethical groups fear parents are opting for abortions because they are not told of the support and help available if they continued with the pregnancy.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics show that between 1996 and 2004, 20 babies were aborted after 20 weeks because they had a club foot. It is one of the most common birth defects in Britain, affecting one in 1,000 babies each year. That means around 600 to 700 babies are born annually in the UK with the problem, which causes the feet to point downwards and in severe cases can cause a limp.

However it can be corrected without surgery using splints, plaster casts and boots. Naomi Davis, a leading paediatrician at Manchester Children's Hospital who specialists in correcting club feet, said: 'I think it is reasonable to be totally shocked that abortion is being offered for this. 'It is entirely treatable. I can only think it is lack of information.'

Figures also show that four babies were aborted since 1996 because they were found to have webbed fingers or extra digits, which can be sorted out with simply surgery.

Remarkable pictures recently have revealed how at just 23 weeks baby in the womb appears to smile, yawn and flinch in pain.

Read the rest of the story here.

The story continues, discussing babies being aborted for other minor ailments such as cleft palate.

This is occurring in the U.K. which has greater restrictions on abortion than the U.S. One wonders how many women here are being pressured by their own fears of the unknown because their baby might have a disability or even by their doctors to abort. This may be one reason why some doctors object to the constant prenatal testing that is expected these days. Often these tests are inconclusive yet generate a great deal of fear.

The U.S. today (and apparently the U.K., also) faces a schizophrenic-type conflict in values. On the one hand, laws are passed such as ADA to ensure that people with disabilities are not discriminated against. Programs are designed to ensure that children with disabilities are educated properly. Support groups are founded to help parents of children with more serious handicaps. Technologies and surgery techniques are devised to improve the lives of the disabled. Now surgery can even be performed in utero for some conditions like spina bifida; recall the incredible photo by Michael Clancy? On the other hand, we tell the disabled by our desire to abort any late term baby that is less than perfect that if we had only known of their defect a little sooner, we'd have killed them right off.

Especially frightening was the fact that these abortions were for minor, correctable defects. None of these were for horrible problems.

That leads one to wonder about more serious handicaps. Do we abort the blind? Where would the world have been without the music of Stevie Wonder or Ray Charles? the works of John Milton? the teaching ability of Annie Sullivan? What about the deaf--do we abort them? Would the world have been better off without the swimming of Terence Parkin, the acting of Marlee Matlin, or the painting of Goya? What about Helen Keller who straddled both worlds--blind and deaf? What about the dyslexic, the hyperactive, those with spina bifida? The list is endless. In fact, a partial list of famous people with disabilities appears on FreeSpeech.com.

This story hits me hard. I have had friends and acquaintances with disabilities. I have known parents with handicapped children very well. Not one of the disabled people I have known wished they had never been born. The parents of handicapped children did not grieve that their child had come into the world. I, however, did know a woman who had been informed that her baby might have a minor disability and was consequently pressured by her husband and doctor to abort---she regretted her decision even years later.

As this post began with a quote, so will it end:

The moral test of a government is how it treats those who are at the dawn of life, the children; those who are in the twilight of life, the aged; and those who are in the shadow of life, the sick and the needy, and the handicapped.
~Hubert Humphrey

Hat tip to Paul Smith, Jr. for his post on this topic.