News

By Gudrun Schultz

GREAT BRITAIN, May 29, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – Babies are being aborted late in pregnancy for such minor defects as club feet or extra digits, reported the Sunday Times last week.

More than 20 babies were aborted after 20 weeks gestation because it was found they had club feet, a condition that is correctible by surgery or physiotherapy, according to information obtained from the Office for National Statistics covering the period from 1996 to 2004. Four more otherwise healthy babies were aborted late-term because they had webbed fingers or extra digits, both of which can be easily corrected by minor surgery.

Additional cases include a child aborted at six months because scans revealed part of one foot had failed to develop, and a child aborted at seven months because it was discovered it had a cleft palate.

British abortion law contains a controversial provision allowing abortions up until birth if the child has a “serious handicap,” intended to protect women from the psychological trauma of giving birth to a child who will most likely die soon afterwards. Increasingly, the clause is being used to end the life of children who have no significant disorders, but who are viewed as less than perfect by parents and doctors.

Easy access to abortion has been shown to dramatically increase abortion rates, despite advocates’ claim that the majority of abortions are undertaken to deal with a “crisis” pregnancy. BPAS, formerly known as the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, said the rate of women using the abortion drug Mifeprex has doubled in the past 12 months, reported the Telegraph today. 10,000 women used the dangerous medication to end the life of their child last year.

The drug is taken within the first nine weeks of pregnancy to cause a chemical abortion.
  The procedure is highly controversial, with the deaths of at least 12 women in Europe and North America linked to its use. Severe haemorrhaging, incomplete abortions and massive septic infections are among the many dangerous side effects to the medication.

See related LifeSiteNews coverage:
  Abortion Drug RU-486 Company Admits to Death of Five Women
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/jul/05071905.html
  Swedish Woman Dies of Abortion Drug RU-486
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2004/mar/04030903.html