Disabled newborns likely to face death

by AFA Journal
February 26, 2007

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(OneNewsNow.com) - - The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, a leading British medical college, has called on the health profession to debate openly the active euthanasia of seriously disabled newborns, and the Church of England supports it. The college believes the emotional and financial burden placed on parents of disabled children is a valid reason to consider the "mercy killings."

"A very disabled child can mean a disabled family," stated a formal submission by the college. "If life-shortening and deliberate interventions to kill infants were available, they might have an impact on obstetric decision-making, even preventing some late abortions, as some parents would be more confident about continuing a pregnancy and taking a risk on outcome."

The college submitted its call for consideration of active euthanasia to the Nuffield Council of Bioethics, a body that will look into the ethical issues raised by the policy of prolonging newborn life, and euthanasia proponents are speaking out. Among those are the Bishop of Southwark, Tom Butler, and controversial bioethics Princeton professor Peter Singer.

Butler, a representative of the Church of England, sparked an outrage when he argued that leaving a severely disabled child to die is sometimes an act of compassion. He, too, acknowledged the high financial burden placed on parents as a factor.

Singer also believes it is important to consider what is best for families of disabled babies. When asked by a reader of the UK Independent newspaper if he would kill a disabled baby, Singer replied: "Yes, if that was in the best interests of the baby and of the family as a whole. Many people find this shocking, yet they support a woman's right to have an abortion."

While the proposal has been supported by a number of leading geneticists and medical ethicists, John Wyatt, a consultant neonatalologist at University College London hospital, said: "Once you introduce the possibility of intentional killing into medical practice, you change the fundamental nature of medicine."