A delegation of parents, including from Ireland, has urged the United Nations to end its use of the term ‘incompatible with life’ during a visit to the organisation’s Geneva Headquarters.
Organised by the pro-life group Every Life Counts to mark the launch of the Geneva Declaration on Perinatal Care, the Irish contingent was led by Mattie McGrath TD, and was afforded time to address the assembly on the stories of their own children who had been deemed ‘incompatible with life’ by medical practitioners.
Among those speaking was Sarah Nugent, whose daughter Isabella lived for 54 days after birth.
“No doctor can definitely say how long a child will live for and I feel that the value of these short lives is being hugely underestimated,” she said. “This term gives no hope and there is always hope.”
Grace Sharp, whose daughter Lilly Joy lived for four hours after birth, having been diagnosed earlier with Trisomy 18, or Edwards Syndrome, told the assembly that the ‘incompatible’ term “is a destroying phrase that brings no hope to a vulnerable heart-aching situation”.
In the declaration, medical experts lend their voices to the call for an end to the ‘incompatible’ language: ?As medical practitioners and researchers, we declare that the term ‘incompatible with life’ is not a medical diagnosis and should not be used when describing unborn children who may have a life-limiting condition.” They added: “We fully support the development of perinatal hospice services for families who are told that their unborn child may not live for very long in the womb or after birth.″
Pointing out that the joint declaration has received much support from Ireland. Spain and the English Parliament, Deputy McGrath urged the UN to act on it and put an end to the term ‘incompatible with life’.
“It’s unnecessary, it’s cruel and it’s heartless,” he said.
