The rate of Down’s syndrome abortions in the UK and Europe is akin to Nazi eugenics [1], the Church of England’s General Synod has heard. Speaking during a debate on pre-natal testing, Andrew Gray, a lay member of Synod, said: “We live in a society that claims to value and appreciate those who are different and those who have a disability and yet what we say and do are two different things. In countries like Iceland Down’s Syndrome has been virtually eliminated”. He continued: “What we have is a very simple situation. The UK and Europe has begun to practice eugenics, by default, and without intent. This is not because of a state-led desire to remove those considered weak or sub-human – we don’t live in 1930s Germany, thank God. But while the reasons and the motivations are different, the outcome is the same. I refer to 1930s Germany with some caution because the Third Reich has a habit of being drawn into these debates, but quite frankly, with this one, there are some stark comparisons.”
Synod members unanimously passed a motion calling for the Government to ensure that “unbiased information” is given to expectant parents who are told their unborn child has Down’s Syndrome. The Synod raised concerns that women were being put under pressure to abort such babies and urged doctors not to frame such a pre-natal test result as “bad news”. Earlier in the week the actress Sally Phillips, who has a son with Down’s Syndrome, said women were “over and over told by implication but also overtly that they will not be able to cope with a Down’s Syndrome baby”. She told a small group of Synod members that a pregnant friend had been “rung nine times during her pregnancy to be offered and offered and offered a termination in case she changed her mind”.