In a recent session from the Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, part of the United Nations’ Human Rights Committee, numerous countries were criticized for having high rates of abortion for children diagnosed prenatally with Down syndrome. Numerous countries were singled out, and the report was surprising to many, given the United Nations’ staunch abortion advocacy.
The report for Belgium stated that people with Down syndrome are seen as “less valuable than other persons, which contributes to the high level of selective termination of pregnancies following prenatal diagnoses of Down syndrome or other impairments.”
In the Netherlands, it was noted that parents received “pressure exerted by health personnel on prospective parents to terminate pregnancies following a diagnosis of Down syndrome or other impairment and the increase in selective terminations of pregnancies, promoting the medical model of disability and reinforcing societal perceptions that persons with Down syndrome and other impairments are less valuable.” The report also noted that in the Netherlands, there are few disability awareness or educational campaigns, or training available to help combat the stigma that currently exists.
Sweden was also named, with the report stating that parents of children with Down syndrome or other disabilities did not receive accurate information or support from medical personnel, and that discriminatory attitudes towards disability were so pervasive that they are “permeating processes and decisions on prenatal testing and abortion, geared towards the extinction of certain types of intellectual impairments.”
The Republic of Türkiye (Turkey), which is located both in Europe and Asia, received heavy scrutiny. The report stated that investigators found “[d]iscriminatory attitudes against living with a disability and biased information given to expectant parents by counseling services, leading to the termination of pregnancy, in particular in cases of a diagnosis of Down syndrome and spina bifida.” These attitudes are so ingrained into Turkish society that they are demeaned even in primary school textbooks, where people with disabilities are described as “needy,” “incompetent,” and not “normal individuals.”
Other countries, like Iceland, are set to be reviewed soon, and their reports will likely be similarly damning.
However, these condemnations are surprising, considering how staunchly the United Nations supports abortion — even going so far as to call laws that protect preborn children “torture” and “extremist hate” — and have declared abortion to be a “human right.” Still, in this instance, the Committee is right to be raising a warning flag.
In Europe, births of babies with Down syndrome have fallen by 50%, varying widely by region. In southern Europe (countries including Spain, Italy, Greece, and Monaco), the decrease in births was 71%; northern Europe (home to countries such as Denmark, Finland, Norway, and Sweden) saw these births fall by 51%. In Eastern Europe (countries including Russia, Poland, Slovakia, and Hungary), the birth rate for babies with Down syndrome decreased by 38%.
And it’s no mystery why the birth rates are falling.
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Iceland has a 100% abortion rate for preborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome. In Poland, before laws were instituted protecting them, nearly every preborn baby aborted there was killed due to disability. Just 18 babies with Down syndrome were born in Denmark in 2019, while the Netherlands was caught telling women they have a “moral duty” to abort if their children have Down syndrome.
In countries like New Zealand, people with Down syndrome are denied residency requests due to their disability, and there has been a massive increase in eugenic abortions. In the United Kingdom (UK), it’s been estimated that 91% of babies with Down syndrome are aborted after a diagnosis, and the UK’s Antenatal Results and Choices will only give parents resources and support if they choose to have an abortion after a prenatal diagnosis. Australian media gushed over prenatal testing that they said could “effectively end” Down syndrome; in truth, it will identify and execute children with the condition before birth.
As the United Nations noted, widespread ableism is embedded into European society, and it is leading to the deaths of human beings that have every right to live, the same as any able-bodied person.
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