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British Medical Association "Preferred Bioethicist" Says Infanticide Justifiable

WESTMINSTER, UK, January 26, 2004 (LifeSiteNews.com) - John Harris, the British Medical Association's "preferred bioethicist" and Manchester University professor of ethics revealed yesterday that he felt infanticide was justifiable for disabled children.

During an unreported debate last week on sex selection, Harris told the Commons Science and Technology Committee that he did not see a difference between killing a child at 40 weeks gestation versus killing the child after it was born. He also said that infanticide is accepted in most countries and that it was for families to decide the fate of their child. "I don't think infanticide is always unjustifiable. I don't think it is plausible to think that there is any moral change that occurs during the journey down the birth canal," he said.

The comments sparked fury from Pro life groups. Spokeswoman for the UK ProLife Party, Julia Millington, who posed the question, said "It is frightening to think that university students are being educated by somebody who endorses the killing of new-born babies, and equally worrying to discover that such a person is the establishment's 'preferred' bioethicist. Prof. Harris is a member of the Human Genetics Commission, and has acted as ethical consultant to the Department of Health and to numerous international bodies. In such a climate is it any wonder that a baby has been aborted in the UK at seven months for a cleft palate?"

Reverend Joanna Jepson, curate of the Church of England, who is going to the High Court to try to block late abortions for trivial reasons such as a cleft palate, said "It is frightening to hear anyone endorsing infanticide but it is shocking when the person is responsible for teaching others."

Read local coverage at:
http://news.scotsman.com/uk.cfm?id=93982004

Also read prior LifeSiteNews.com coverage of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children's report on Dr. James Watson’s support of infanticide. Watson, father of modern genetics, wrote in 1973 that “...most defects are not discovered until birth. If a child were not declared alive until three days after birth, then all parents could be allowed the choice... the doctor could allow the child to die if the parents so choose and save a lot of misery and suffering,” at: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2001/apr/010419.html

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