The BBC—which occasionally does actual journalism—published a long-form piece taking a look at the eugenic impulses driving medical professionals to push parents into aborting pre-born children diagnosed with Down syndrome. After refusing an abortion, one mother was assured at 38 weeks that she could still abort the baby if she wished. Another mother was offered an abortion fifteen times:
Emma Mellor felt under pressure to abort her daughter Jaimie throughout her pregnancy. Aged 24 at the time, she already had a young son with her husband Steve.
“In all honesty we were offered 15 terminations, even though we made it really clear that it wasn’t an option for us, but they really seemed to push and really seemed to want us to terminate,” she says.
At her 20-week scan, Emma was told her daughter had some fluid on her brain. Doctors said she was likely to be disabled.
“From that moment on, they recommended we should terminate and told us to think about the effect on our son and his quality of life.” Their son Logan was on the waiting list for surgery at the time, having been born with a hole in his heart.
It is an ugly and coldblooded world that has no room for these beautiful people, and a sad and immoral world when healers advocate lethal ableism.
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Protests have rocked Poland ever since the Supreme Court ruled that abortions for eugenic purposes are unconstitutional, with abortion supporters mobbing churches (and, in one notable instance, being met by an angry, fed-up crowd who chased them away. Now, the Catholic News Agency is reporting, Poland’s president—who recently joined the March for Life and Family—is partially backing away:
Facing protests across the country after a court ruling prohibiting abortion for fetal abnormalities, the Polish president said Friday he would propose a bill permitting abortion in cases of fatal fetal abnormality. Andrzej Duda said Oct. 30 he would introduce a bill to allow abortion “when prenatal tests or other medical indications show a high probability that the child will be stillborn or have an incurable disease or defect that will lead to the death of the child inevitably and directly, regardless of the therapeutic measures used,” Reuters reported.
Protests across Poland began after the constitutional court ruled Oct. 22 that a law permitting abortion for fetal abnormalities was unconstitutional. The Polish constitution says that the state “shall ensure the legal protection of the life of every human being”. The court was asked to examine the law last year by a group of 119 MPs belonging to the ruling Law and Justice party, as well as two smaller parties…Duda initially welcomed the court ruling, telling the Warsaw daily Dziennik Gazeta Prawna Oct. 23 “that abortion for so-called eugenic reasons should not be allowed in Poland. I believed and believe that every child has a right to life.”
The AP reported Oct. 29 that Duda had told RMF FM that abortion should be prohibited for non-fatal fetal conditions such as Down syndrome, but permitted for fatal abnormalities: “it cannot be that the law requires this kind of heroism from a woman.” He said: “I believe that there should be a regulation which, in case of lethal defects, will unequivocally guarantee the rights on the side of the woman.”
Protesters have been blocking roads and bridges, and disrupting churches, across Poland. A mass protest is occurring Friday evening [October 30] in Warsaw.
Supporters of abortion rights disrupted Sunday Masses across Poland this weekend. They have also left graffiti on church property, vandalized a statue of St. John Paul II, and chanted slogans at clergy. Roads and bridges have been blocked, and some workers were on strike Oct. 28. Interior Minister Mariusz Kaminski has said 76 people have been detained in connection with protests at churches, and 101 cases are being prosecuted.
The law proposed by Duda would still be more restrictive than the abortion regime that existed prior to the Supreme Court ruling.
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In a disappointing but expected result, New Zealanders have voted to legalize euthanasia. From CNN:
New Zealanders have voted in favor of legalizing euthanasia for people with a terminal illness — clearing the way for the controversial proposition to become law in 2021.
More than 65% of voters backed the proposed law, according to preliminary results of a referendum announced by the country’s electoral commission Friday.
Lawmakers voted 69-51 to approve the End of Life Choice Act 2019 last year before sending the issue to a referendum.
Ironically, they voted against legalizing cannabis use. Apparently assisted suicide is more acceptable.
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This, apparently, is what passes for news these days: The CBC ran an entire story on a transgender child who was accidentally “deadnamed” during virtual school. “Deadnaming” is the practice where someone’s “legal name,” rather than their new, chosen name, is used.
