Selective abortions could happen here

In the 1960s, I worked as a midwife and paediatric nurse in England, before the days of prenatal screening and David Steel’s Abortion Act of 1967.

I remember a premature baby, born with Down Syndrome and a severe heart abnormality. He and his distraught parents were given all the care, skill and technology of the NHS.

In Dublin, 15 years later, our fourth child was born in the National Maternity Hospital, in 1973, before routine pre-natal screening, so his diagnosis of Down Syndrome was unexpected. He received the same, loving care as he would have had in 1960s England, together with more advanced technology.