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Acceptance of People with Down Syndrome is Saving Lives in Ireland : 9th Nov 09
Up to 50 per cent of pregnant mothers attending a Dublin maternity hospital who learn they’re carrying a child with Down Syndrome decide to abort the child, says a leading obstetrician.
Fergal Malone, Professor of Obstetrics and Gynaecology at the Rotunda Hospital and the Royal College of Surgeons, confirmed the trend in comments on a UK study that found that more than 90 per cent of mothers in England and Wales who learned from screening that they were carrying Down babies decided to abort them. “We are very different to the UK in patients’ responses to their diagnosis”, he said.
“We are doing a lot of screening now, and 30 to 50 per cent of those who are diagnosed do not terminate [sic] once they get the information. He believed this was because Down children were visible and accepted in every community here, but not in the UK. In recent years specialized, combined ultrasound and blood tests have become available at several hospitals in Ireland and can detect more than 95 per cent of Down babies as early as 10 to 12 weeks’ gestation.
Prof Malone was asked whether it was surprising that half the women attending the Rotunda chose to travel abroad to have their babies killed after learning they were carrying Down babies. He stated it was unclear whether this was a new trend, because up to a few years ago many women would’ve gone to the UK for screening. What’s more, he noted, “we have a multicultural society now, and it may be that some of the women opting for terminations [sic] are originally from countries where Down Syndrome is not as acceptable as it is here”.
He pointed out that many women already travel to the UK for abortions for “social and personal reasons”, so “it probably should not be surprising people would go for this”. The scholar stressed that although an individual’s likelihood of having a Down child grow with maternal age, most Down pregnancies here are in women under 35 years. This is because many more younger women than older women are giving birth.
But, he remarked, it was impossible to say how many Down pregnancies and births occurred here every year, because no register of these is kept, as happens in the UK. The Irish Times. October 28.
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