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.

In Ireland, we still have that ethic of care for the weakest, most vulnerable children, with services and staff dedicated to supporting people who have physical and intellectual disabilities. The St John of God Brothers have enabled my son to have the best life appropriate to his disability. Without them, his life, and ours, would sadly be very different. On holiday in England last year, I didn’t see one person who had Down Syndrome. Don’t bother to ask why: the answer isn’t rocket science. It is selective abortion of the disabled, following pre-natal screening. And it could happen here. Voters have been assured that it won’t, because the proposed Protection of Life During Pregnancy Bill is too tightly worded. But legalising the deliberate killing of normal, healthy foetuses, even in exceptional circumstances, will hasten the day when our intellectually and physically disabled unborn will also be targeted for destruction.

Downgrading their worth will, in the long run, lead to a decline in the value accorded to our disabled people who are already born.

Mary Lowry

SRN, RSCN, SCM

Dun Laoghaire

Co Dublin