{"id":228846,"date":"2020-08-13T18:20:33","date_gmt":"2020-08-13T23:20:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=228846"},"modified":"2023-11-14T20:36:45","modified_gmt":"2023-11-15T02:36:45","slug":"94-percent-belgian-doctors-after-abortion-disabilities","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/94-percent-belgian-doctors-after-abortion-disabilities\/","title":{"rendered":"SHOCK: 94% of Belgian doctors support \u2018after-birth abortion\u2019 for babies with disabilities"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

(Right to Life UK<\/a>) \u2018After-birth abortion\u2019 or infanticide for babies with a disability is supported by more than 9 in 10 Belgian physicians surveyed, a shocking new research paper<\/a> into abortion attitudes has revealed.<\/p>\n

\n

A poll of healthcare professionals in Flanders, Belgium found 93.6% of physicians surveyed \u201c<\/em><\/strong>agree that in the event of a serious (non-lethal) neonatal condition, administering drugs with the explicit intention to end neonatal life is acceptable.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

While the term \u2018serious (non-lethal) neonatal condition\u2019 is not defined in the paper, similarly unrestrictive wording in the UK Abortion Act<\/a> has in practice allowed for abortion right up to birth for babies prenatally diagnosed with a disability \u2013 including Down\u2019s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot.<\/p>\n

Medical \u2018ethicists\u2019 call for after-birth abortion<\/strong><\/p>\n

In 2012, two medical \u2018ethicists\u2019 controversially claimed that doctors should be allowed to end the lives of disabled, and even unwanted, newborn babies because they are not \u201cactual persons\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

In an article, published by the British Medical Journal<\/a>, Francesca Minerva and Alberto Guibilini argue that parents should be given the choice to end the lives of their newborn babies shortly after they are born because they are \u201cmorally irrelevant\u201d<\/em> and have \u201cno moral right to life.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

In addition, the \u2018ethicists\u2019 argued that infanticide \u2013 the purposeful causing of a baby\u2019s death \u2013 is no different to abortion since both a foetus and a newborn baby are only \u201cpotential persons\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

They suggest infanticide, which they term as \u201cafter-birth abortion\u201d, should even be permissible where a baby is perfectly healthy if the birth is unwanted, inconvenient or too expensive for the parents.<\/p>\n

READ:\u00a0Report: Belgium euthanized record number in 2019 \u2014 including one child<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

The authors state: \u201cBoth a foetus and a newborn certainly are human beings and potential persons, but neither is a person in the sense of subject of a moral right to life.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

They add: \u201cWhat we call \u2018after-birth abortion\u2019 should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled\u201d<\/em>.<\/p>\n

The response<\/a> to the article was widespread outrage and even death threats aimed at the articles two authors. However, what was widely condemned, at the time, now appears to have widespread support among healthcare professionals surveyed in Belgium.<\/p>\n

\u2018Profoundly disturbing\u2019\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

A spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson said: \u201cLess than ten years ago, there was a strong condemnation of the idea of ending a baby\u2019s life after it had been born, regardless of whether or not it had a disability, when this idea was floated by academics in the British Medical Journal.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cTragically, the thought of intentionally ending the life of an unborn baby and newborn baby\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

now appears to have gone from an outlandish academic thought experiment to be seen as something that is morally acceptable by these healthcare professionals in Belgium.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cIt is profoundly disturbing that these healthcare professionals, who should be upholding the right to life and giving every baby the best possible chance at life, are hugely in favour of \u2018after-birth abortions\u2019 and infanticide of babies with a disability.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Editor’s Note: This article was published by Right to Life UK<\/a> and is reprinted here with permission.<\/em><\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

(Right to Life UK) \u2018After-birth abortion\u2019 or infanticide for babies with a disability is supported by more than 9 in 10 Belgian physicians surveyed, a shocking new research paper into abortion attitudes has revealed. A poll of healthcare professionals in Flanders, Belgium found 93.6% of physicians surveyed \u201cagree that in the event of a serious […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":669,"featured_media":219111,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7077,5,4],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nSHOCK: 94% of Belgian doctors support \u2018after-birth abortion\u2019 for babies with disabilities<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"\u2018After-birth abortion\u2019 or infanticide for babies with disability is supported by more than 9 in 10 Belgian physicians surveyed, shocking new research shows.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/righttolife.org.uk\/news\/94-of-belgian-doctors-surveyed-support-after-birth-abortion-for-babies-with-disabilities\/\" \/>\n<meta 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