HuffPost Columnist: Netherlands Pushing “A Moral Duty to Abort” Down Syndrome Babies

2017/9/22 22:22:38

So far, like Iceland, the Netherlands has not required abortion — but they’re putting plenty of pressure on mothers to abort, [Renate] Lindeman alleges, including some discussion of fines for those who don’t.  

 


By ED MORRISSEY, Sep 22, 2017

 

First Iceland, now the Netherlands? Renate Lindeman, the organizer behind DownPride and the mother of two Down Syndrome daughters, accuses the country’s medical industry and government of pressuring mothers to abort their Down Syndrome babies after prenatal testing provides that diagnosis. Lindeman writes that the government is spreading misleading information on Down health costs in order to incentivize abortions and to implement what is essentially a eugenics program.

 

Quoted Dr. Stefan Paas on twitter. ‘We haven’t come this close to Nazi before.’ The quote was taken from a letter published in a National newspaper. It stated that the freedom to birth disabled children should be limited by the ‘financial burden’ to society. Declining to abort, argues letter-writer Michael van der Lubbe, despite the availability of prenatal technology like Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT), should have financial consequences for parents. His letter followed a stream of articles in the media with suggestive titles as ‘Better [off] without Down’. …

 

Several national newspapers have published top 10 lists of “most expensive diseases and conditions.” These lists mention Down syndrome at the top. A popular TV series aptly named Downer’ also showed a calculation of the yearly “costs” of a person with Down syndrome to society. The source of this defamation is the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM).

 

A quick Google search shows the truth: Down syndrome [makes] up only a small percentage (8 percent) of the group with “intellectual challenges.” Yearly, more than twice the number of children are born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS). FAS is a cause of intellectual disability, among other problems, caused by alcohol consumption during pregnancy. A poll among families with Down syndrome revealed that 100 percent never had a discussion with their health care provider about FAS or it’s prevention.

 

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https://hotair.com/archives/2017/09/22 ... ty-abort-syndrome-babies/

 

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