{"id":24444,"date":"2012-12-18T22:27:47","date_gmt":"2012-12-19T03:27:47","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=24444"},"modified":"2012-12-21T05:29:42","modified_gmt":"2012-12-21T10:29:42","slug":"ukip-candidate-geoffrey-clark-calls-for-compulsory-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-candidate-geoffrey-clark-calls-for-compulsory-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"UKIP candidate Geoffrey Clark calls for compulsory abortion of babies with Down syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div><p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignleft size-medium wp-image-24445\" style=\"margin-left: 15px; margin-right: 15px;\" alt=\"red_abortionrow.jpeg\" src=\"\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/o-RED_ABORTIONROW-570-216x300.jpg\" width=\"216\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/o-RED_ABORTIONROW-570-216x300.jpg 216w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/o-RED_ABORTIONROW-570.jpg 570w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 216px) 100vw, 216px\" \/><br \/>\nGeoffrey Clark, who is running for for a seat on the Kent Council as a member of the U.K. Independence Party (UKIP), has called for the compulsory abortion of all babies with Down syndrome, spina bifida, and other birth defects or disabilities. He also advocated for free euthanasia for anyone over the age of 80. Clark posted a &#8220;<a href=\"http:\/\/geoffreyclark.webs.com\/manifesto\">manifesto<\/a>&#8221; on his personal website, which included the following:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Consider compulsory abortion when the foetus is detected as having Downs, Spina Bifida, or similar syndrome which, if it is born, will render the child a burden on the state as well as on the family.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>He has since apologized, saying he&nbsp;<a href=\"http:\/\/www.thisiskent.co.uk\/UKIP-candidate-Geoffrey-Clark-apologises-s\/story-17620332-detail\/story.html\">regretted his choice of language<\/a>:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I would like to apologise to anyone who has taken offence &#8211; none of it was intended.<\/p>\n<p>UKIP\u2019s policy is to reduce public expenditure. I am a layman; I do not know what should be cut. I wrote my website very, very quickly, it was so naive and foolish.<\/p>\n<p>&#8230; Some have been offended and I sincerely regret my choice of language. It was inappropriate language to express something that is genuinely sincere \u2013 we need to review all expenditure.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>And while he&#8217;s apologized, the offensive material remains on his website. He just added a small disclaimer after his proposal that all babies with disabilities be forcibly aborted.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"\/news\/ukip-candidate-geoffrey-clark-calls-for-compulsory-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/manifesto\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-24446\"><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-24446\" alt=\"manifesto\" src=\"\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/manifesto-300x124.jpg\" width=\"300\" height=\"124\" srcset=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/manifesto-300x124.jpg 300w, https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/12\/manifesto.jpg 925w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>How disgusting and abhorrent can a person be? It&#8217;s one thing entirely to allow for the murder of an innocent baby purely because he has a disability. To make such babies&#8217; abortions <em>mandatory<\/em> is completely despicable. It&#8217;s what normal people call &#8220;eugenics,&#8221; something the Nazis were rather fond of. And Clark, even in his phony apology, doesn&#8217;t get that. He still brushes it off as nothing more than &#8220;reviewing expenditure.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>This is a man who sees the compulsory murder of innocent children as nothing more than a way to reduce Britain&#8217;s national debt. He can apologize all he wants to, but this is a man who should never, <em>ever<\/em> be in a position of authority.<\/p>\n<p>Wisely, UKIP has since <a href=\"http:\/\/www.guardian.co.uk\/politics\/2012\/dec\/18\/ukip-candidate-abortion-for-downs-syndrome\">suspended him from the party<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>He&#8217;s been suspended from the party.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":24459,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7],"tags":[19,496,1049,429,404,1454,678,31,1453,1455],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v20.7 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>UKIP candidate Geoffrey Clark calls for compulsory abortion of babies with Down syndrome - Live Action News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-candidate-geoffrey-clark-calls-for-compulsory-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"UKIP candidate Geoffrey Clark calls for compulsory abortion of babies with Down syndrome - 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