What comes to mind when you think about humans being murdered because of genetic defects or disabilities? Is it Nazi Germany with its “mercy killings” and its goal of racial purity?
How about considering the abortion laws in America, Britain, and across the rest of the developed world? These laws are allowing hundreds of unborn babies to be aborted under the legal medical practice known as eugenic abortion.
In Britain it is legal to abort a fetus if “there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped” (Abortion Act). It is common practice for expectant mothers to abort babies with genetic defects discovered during prenatal testing. In Britain, over half of unborn babies with Downs syndrome are aborted. In America, which has even more liberal abortion laws, fully 80 percent of these babies are aborted (Washington Post, April 14).
Often, if a pregnant mother is hesitant to undergo the operation, medical professionals urge and pressure her to dispose of the fetus. One mother who participated in a study of parents of Downs syndrome children reported in 1999 that when she was told her baby had Downs syndrome, a geneticist showed her “a really pitiful video first of people with Downs syndrome who were very low tone and lethargic-looking and then proceeded to tell us that our child would never be able to read, write or count change” (ibid.). These professionals paint the bleakest of pictures for mothers whose expected babies may have Downs syndrome, spina bifida or other conditions. They neglect to relate any positives (such as the fact that there is a waiting list of people wanting to adopt Downs syndrome babies) and fail to cite examples of people who lead comparatively successful lives despite their condition. Mothers are made to feel guilty if they decide to proceed with the birth.
In 1999, an unborn 28-week-old child was aborted when it was found the child would have a cleft lip and palate—a treatable condition. Under the British law this was legal as there is no precise definition for “seriously handicapped.”
Other reasons for abortion under British law are legal only up until the 24th week of pregnancy. But lawmakers have deemed eugenic abortions legal up until the point of birth.
Our February 2005 article “Is Abortion Really Murder” explains why any kind of abortion is wrong and how God feels about the subject. Eugenic abortion not only puts in man’s hands God’s prerogative of life and death, but the decision of what kind of baby will be born.
In a world perfectly submitted to the laws—physical as well as spiritual—of the Creator God, such defects would not occur. But because they do, we are forced to make the best of a less-than-ideal situation rather than destroying the fetus on the pretext of doing the future child and society a favor—an act that demonstrates a lack of “natural affection” (2 Timothy 3:3) and a callousness toward the preciousness of life.