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August 17, 2017 (LifeSiteNews) – Pro-life advocates and conservatives criticized CBS News this week for a report that seemed to legitimize the eugenic extermination of Down syndrome babies through abortion.

The report claimed Iceland is on track to “eliminate Down syndrome.”

Abortion has “almost completely eliminated Down syndrome births since the test began in the early 2000s,” Elaine Quijano of CBS explained in the report.

The report featured an abortion counselor who denied the humanity of babies in the womb. She said aborting babies with Down syndrome prevents suffering and that not every child with the disability is a “nice cute one.”

“CBS News should be ashamed,” MRC Culture Associate Editor Katie Yoder told LifeSiteNews. “The network packaged their report by claiming that Iceland was 'eliminating' Down syndrome. But there was a bigger story inside that package. Down syndrome isn’t 'disappearing,' but unborn babies with the genetic disorder are.”

Actress Patricia Heaton made a similar point.

The March for Life's Jeanne Mancini called the story “sickening” and challenged CBS to “air a segment about the happiness and benefits Down Syndrome children bring to families.”

“CBS got it backwards. Instead of treating the disorder, Iceland is removing the patient,” Yoder continued. “It’s sickening that the network advertised human persons as disposable. Every life is precious. The liberal media routinely advertise abortion as 'women's healthcare,' but one person always dies. Healthcare is supposed to protect life, not champion death.”

Kristan Hawkins, the President of Students for Life of America (SFLA) and the mother of children with genetic disabilities, said the story was heartbreaking.

SFLA released a video of Autumn Lindsey, a pro-life teenager, blasting the report.

“They have not eradicated Down syndrome. They have simply killed those with Down syndrome,” she said.

“This is not something to be celebrated. Note how CBS uses the term 'eradicate' as in 'eradicate polio' or 'eradicate malaria.' People with Down syndrome are not diseases. You can eradicate a disease, but you cannot eradicate people,” Autumn continued. “They have not eradicated Down syndrome. They have simply killed those with Down syndrome.” 

Autumn said she doesn't want to live in a non-inclusive society that seeks to eliminate disabled people.

“The CBS report is scary,” she said. “We should seek to value all human beings, not kill off those we deem 'less worthy.'”