An “important message” from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Midwives and the Society and College of Radiographers has been issued to doctors and nurses in the UK, informing them that it is not acceptable to pressure parents into aborting a child diagnosed with such a disability as Down’s syndrome.

The message, intended for healthcare workers involved in carrying out prenatal tests for chromosome disorders, noted that:

“Some parents whose babies have been identified as having a higher chance of Down’s syndrome, Edwards’ syndrome or Patau’s syndrome, and who have decided to continue with the pregnancy, have reported being asked repeatedly if they want further diagnostic tests or an abortion.

“They report having their decisions challenged and being pressured into changing their minds. This should not happen.”

SPUC recently reported on the significant pressures faced by mothers to abort their unborn children with Down’s syndrome – including one mother who was offered abortion 15 times.

In 2019 alone, 1,184 unborn children were killed by abortion in Britain after being diagnosed with a chromosomal anomaly.

The joint union statement made it clear that, though “parents should have the scope to change their minds”, they should “not be pressured into doing so – their decisions should be accepted and respected at all times”.

SPUC comment

A SPUC spokesperson said: “While aborting babies with Down’s syndrome is never acceptable, this joint statement is to be welcomed in that it at least pushes back against the widespread presumption that parents should abort children shown to have a disability.

“It is especially vital today that parents feel that doctors are on their side, as well as the side of their children, just at the moment when society is becoming more and more prejudiced against children with disabilities, as we see in the recent plotline in the ITV soap Emmerdale, as reported by SPUC (see below links), in which a couple abort their child after discovering it has Down’s syndrome.

“It must be made clear that ALL children deserve love, not destruction.”

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