The Rotunda Hospital in Dublin is the oldest continuously operating maternity hospital in the world. Over 900,000 babies have been delivered at the Rotunda since its founding in 1745.
In an interview with The Irish Times, Master of the Rotunda Professor Sean Daly said that the Republic of Ireland should legalise the abortion of unborn babies with Down’s syndrome.
“If you discover your baby is having Down syndrome and you want to interrupt the pregnancy, then you inevitably have to travel abroad”, Prof. Daly complained to The Irish Times.
Any unborn child under 12 weeks may be aborted in Ireland; after that point, a baby diagnosed with Down’s syndrome cannot be aborted unless diagnosed with a life-limiting foetal anomaly. While some babies can be diagnosed with Down’s syndrome before 12 weeks, confirmation often occurs after that point.
Despite saying that “kindness is the essence of care”, Prof. Daly said it should be allowed abort children with Down’s syndrome over 12 weeks, even though “lots of people with Down syndrome are loving and contribute to society…
“We need to understand that people make choices and respect those choices even though they might make choices we wouldn’t make ourselves.”
He added that the current three-day waiting time for abortion should be scrapped.
In 2022, it emerged that around 95 per cent of children diagnosed with Down’s syndrome at the Rotunda were aborted.
Over 10,000 children were killed by abortion in Ireland in 2023, an increase of 23 per cent compared with 2022.
Previous master likened abortion to cancer treatment
The hospital’s previous master, Professor Fergal Malone, also advocated for the abolition of the three-day reflection period, stating:
“I don’t think I can come up with any other example of healthcare – not transplantation or cancer surgery, for example – where we require someone to go through an informed consent process with a doctor and is then required to go away and come back in three days to reaffirm their consent.”
On the abortion of babies with Down’s syndrome, Prof. Malone added: “I don’t have a view on whether that is the right thing… That is just the lived experience.”
In response to Prof. Malone’s comments in 2022, Conor O’Dowd, a chef with Down’s syndrome, delivered a letter to the Rotunda that read:
“I love my life [and] I don’t understand why people take away babies with Down syndrome … It is very wrong … it is unfair. We love our parents, our brothers and sisters and our friends, and they love us so much.”
“One of the great scandals of our time”
Daniel Frampton, SPUC’s Editorial Officer, said: “The recent leadership of the Rotunda has a history of appalling statements justifying the abortion of babies diagnosed with Down’s syndrome, and its record speaks for itself.
“Aborting a child with Down’s syndrome is not an act of ‘care’ or ‘kindness’ – it’s the worst form of discrimination. It’s disgraceful that the master of a maternity hospital should make such a statement. Every child has a right to love and life, and they shouldn’t have to prove their contributing or loving nature to doctors.
“Prof. Malone’s comparison of abortion with cancer treatment is equally shocking. The difference between an unborn baby and cancer should be self-evident. If leaders like these are the moral standard at the Rotunda, it’s hardly surprising that 95 per cent of babies diagnosed with Down’s syndrome at this hospital are aborted
“This prejudice against Down’s syndrome ultimately kills thousands of unborn children every year around the world, which is one of the great scandals of our time. It’s incumbent on all people of good conscience to call out this shame for what it really is.”
