Currently, Ireland is one of the most pro-life countries in the world — but there are plenty who are pushing for abortion to be legalized in the country. For a woman seeking to get an abortion, the closest location is to travel to the United Kingdom. In the United Kingdom, abortion is not legal after 24 weeks of pregnancy… unless the child has a disability, no matter how minor. Disturbingly, the UK Department of Health recently revealed that 83 Irish women sought late-term abortions in the UK in 2015 and 2016, solely because their babies had Down syndrome. Six more aborted because their babies had spina bifida, and one due to cystic fibrosis. The international genocide against preborn children with Down syndrome — and other disabilities — sadly continues.
The numbers were released after Irish Health Minister Simon Harris said it was offensive to suggest that women were traveling to the United Kingdom from Ireland to abort babies with Down syndrome and other disabilities. Pro-lifers in Ireland have expressed their fears that if abortion is legalized in Ireland, preborn babies with disabilities will be targeted for death. This is a battle disability advocates are already fighting in the United Kingdom, and the same will almost certainly happen in Ireland is abortion is legalized.
But this genocide currently isn’t limited to the United Kingdom. Iceland is well on the road to eradicating Down syndrome, as is Denmark. A geneticist from Iceland said, “My understanding is that we have basically eradicated, almost, Down syndrome from our society — that there is hardly ever a child with Down syndrome in Iceland anymore.” In Australia, prenatal tests are positively featured as a way to “effectively end Down syndrome.” In the Netherlands, women are told they have a “moral duty” to abort after receiving a prenatal diagnosis. Women are frequently pressured to have abortions after receiving a prenatal diagnosis.
For these 90 Irish women, the decision to have an abortion was especially tragic. The Herald notes that these abortions “were carried out after 24 weeks of pregnancy.” These viable preborn babies lost their lives in a horrific way, as outlined by former abortionist, Dr. Anthony Levatino:
Not only are these late-term abortions terribly cruel, they take place when the babies are viable, and can feel pain. And they’re subjected to this awful fate solely because they have a disability. It’s eugenics, plain and simple. And if the example of legalized abortion in other countries is anything to judge by, Irish women with a prenatal diagnosis won’t be given accurated and up-to-date information. Their prenatal diagnoses will be presented in a negative way. They won’t be told about support that is available to them, the positive medical advancements that have made people with Down syndrome able to live longer and healthier lives than ever before, and the reality of the full and rich lives they are able to lead.
These 90 women should serve as a bellwether for Irish politicians considering the legalization of abortion. The notion of killing someone solely for a disability is, indeed, offensive. But it is also a sad reality — even for women in Ireland.
