The ultimate threat to disabled children

JAIME HYLAND (Irish Examiner letters, July 1) is wrong in his assertion that Rónán Mullen has no evidence to back his statement that parents are coming under pressure to abort children with disabilities.

For at least 25 years women in Britain have been advised that abortion is the proper course for Down’s syndrome babies and those with other severe abnormalities. The significant reduction in the number of Down’s syndrome children in Britain and other European countries is due to policies of aborting them.

I was once at a British postgraduate lecture for GPs where an obstetrician described how he “pitched” a hydrocephalic baby he was delivering “to ensure it wouldn’t survive”. His words.

There can be no objection to medical procedures which prepare parents and doctors for planning extra care that the newborn may need. What is unethical is to use, say, amniocentesis as a “search and destroy” weapon. What the newborn needs is love and milk from its mother and expert care from the doctors.

The Special Olympics athletes were a shining example of bravery, joy and unselfishness. They are a salutary reminder that this world is not about the freedom of only those with certain attributes of mind and body.

Mr Mullen is absolutely right to remind readers that where abortion is legal, these special people will be targeted for elimination.

Dr ME MacConaill,

Coryule,

Brahalish,

Durrus,

Co Cork.