The law on abortion for disabled babies needs to be reviewed as it is outdated and could be discriminatory, 
according to a group of MPs and Peers.
Their call comes as new figures show a significant increase in the number of abortions carried on the grounds of disability.
A parliamentary commission has published a report which outlines views that the law is essentially eugenics, which is eliminating undesirable characteristics from society, the Daily Telegraph reports.
The group has called for Parliament to review the question of allowing abortion on the grounds of the baby being handicapped, given the changes to social attitudes on disability over recent years.
At the moment doctors can approve abortions up to full term if they think there is a “substantial risk” that the child will be seriously handicapped.
Records released by the Department of Health show that 2,692 abortions took place last year due to diagnosis of a medical abnormality, compared to 2,307 in 2011.
Termination of pregnancies in which Down’s syndrome was diagnosed increased by six per cent (from 512 to 544). Abortions for other medical conditions, such as cystic fibrosis, also increased by 33 per cent – with four pregnancies terminated due to diagnosis of a cleft palate.
The commission said parents are being pushed into having an abortion if their baby is disabled, and in some cases for conditions which could be dealt with after birth such as club foot and cleft lip.
A European register of congenital abnormalities found that 157 abortions for cleft lip and palate had taken place in the UK between 2006 and 2010.
The commission, chaired by Tory MP Fiona Bruce, heard from medical bodies, campaign groups, doctors, lawyers and parents.
The majority of those who gave evidence found abortion on disability grounds to be “discriminatory”.
The report said: “It is time to review the moral, ethical, legal and practical framework within which this provision of the Abortion Act operates and how the law applies to a foetus beyond the age of viability.”
“Given the changes in domestic and international law and societal attitudes in recent years which are influencing views on disability, we recommend that Parliament reviews the question of allowing abortion on the grounds of disability.”
The group argued that current practices could be in breach of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.
Meanwhile, a Fianna Fáil Senator who said that allowing abortion for cases of fatal foetal abnormality would be “depriving future Special Olympics athletes of being born” has been accused of “scaremongering”.
However, Senator Brian O Domhnaill said he stood over his remarks.
Labour Party Senator Mary Moran, whose son Cillian (15) is a Special Olympics competitor, said Mr O Domhnaill’s remarks “are scaremongering and they are insulting”
She claimed that unborn children with fatal foetal abnormalities had no chance of surviving outside the womb and would never grow up to become Special Olympics athletes.
However, Mr O’Domhnaill said he would not be withdrawing his comments or apologising for them.
He said there were children such as three-year-old Louise Kehoe from Kildare who had been diagnosed with a fatal foetal abnormality. He said her parents, John and Jennifer, had been advised to get an abortion abroad, but had turned it down.
“Louise has come through three heart operations. Her cognitive development is normal and she is expected to live a long and normal life,” he said.