{"id":46038,"date":"2014-02-07T18:44:41","date_gmt":"2014-02-07T23:44:41","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=46038"},"modified":"2014-02-10T08:50:37","modified_gmt":"2014-02-10T13:50:37","slug":"ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/","title":{"rendered":"Ukip chairman advocates for abortion of babies with Down syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

U.K. Independence Party member John Upex, chairman of Ukip\u2019s Harrogate & Knaresborough Association, has resigned after advocating for the abortion of babies with Down syndrome. In letters he wrote to conservative MP Andrew Jones, Upex talked about bloodletting in Britain by piano wire, and talked about how babies with Down syndrome should be aborted<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In one letter he told Mr Jones: \u201cI understand the test for what we call Down\u2019s Syndrome is not feasible until the third month (of pregnancy) and as the God-Father of a Down\u2019s boy I cannot but endorse the termination of those few children with that condition.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

After the remarks became public, Upex stepped down but refused to back away from his comments<\/a> beyond saying that they had been taken out of context.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

He told the Independent that his views on Down’s syndrome foetuses had been taken out of context.<\/p>\n

He said: “Before Ukip we had three parties that had no difference. We are in exactly the same situation as the Eastern Bloc countries before the Berlin Wall came down.”<\/p>\n

“Mr Jones accuses me of eugenics. This is a complete travesty. My view is that abortion is a necessary but not very pleasant evil. With current medical science where do you draw the line? My personal view is that up to nine weeks is OK but later than that, I couldn’t do it.<\/p>\n

He added: “In cases like Down’s syndrome or spina bifida, I know children in that state and it is horrible for everyone. In cases like that termination might be the best thing.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Saying that termination is the best option for a child with Down syndrome or spina bifida is<\/em> a eugenicist statement. Upex isn’t the first Ukip member to voice such abhorrent views, either. Ukip member Geoffrey Clark was suspended from the party in 2012 after saying that there should be compulsory abortions of babies with Down syndrome<\/a>, and calling for free euthanasia over the age of 80.<\/p>\n

And while Upex resigned and Clark was suspended, it seems awfully suspicious that people holding such despicable views seem drawn to that party. Consider the fact that Upex resigned and was not asked to step down, and Ukip thanked Upex for his contribution to the party<\/a>. Perhaps advocating for the abortion of children with Down syndrome in the Ukip is A-OK, as long as it isn’t said too loud.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

U.K. Independence Party member John Upex, chairman of Ukip\u2019s Harrogate & Knaresborough Association, has resigned after advocating for the abortion of babies with Down syndrome. In letters he wrote to conservative MP Andrew Jones, Upex talked about bloodletting in Britain by piano wire, and talked about how babies with Down syndrome should be aborted. In […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":12592,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5],"tags":[19,2112,496,428,429,2111,1454,2113],"yoast_head":"\nUkip chairman advocates for 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-chairman-advocates-for-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 chairman advocates for abortion of babies with Down syndrome - Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"U.K. Independence Party member John Upex, chairman of Ukip\u2019s Harrogate & Knaresborough Association, has resigned after advocating for the abortion of babies with Down syndrome. In letters he wrote to conservative MP Andrew Jones, Upex talked about bloodletting in Britain by piano wire, and talked about how babies with Down syndrome should be aborted. In […]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2014-02-07T23:44:41+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-02-10T13:50:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/downs-child.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"320\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"231\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cassy Cooke\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392\"},\"headline\":\"Ukip chairman advocates for abortion of babies with Down syndrome\",\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-07T23:44:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-10T13:50:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/\"},\"wordCount\":406,\"commentCount\":1,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"abortion\",\"Andrew Jones\",\"Cassy Fiano\",\"disability\",\"Down syndrome\",\"eugenic\",\"Geoffrey Clark\",\"John Upex\"],\"articleSection\":[\"International\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/\",\"name\":\"Ukip chairman advocates for abortion of babies with Down syndrome - Live Action News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2014-02-07T23:44:41+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-02-10T13:50:37+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Ukip chairman advocates for abortion of babies with Down syndrome\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392\",\"name\":\"Cassy Cooke\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cassy Cooke\"},\"description\":\"Cassy has over 20 years of experience as a writer and editor, most of which have been spent covering pro-life issues like abortion, disability rights, euthanasia, and more.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/cassy-fiano\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Ukip chairman advocates for abortion of babies with Down syndrome - Live Action News","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Ukip chairman advocates for abortion of babies with Down syndrome - Live Action News","og_description":"U.K. Independence Party member John Upex, chairman of Ukip\u2019s Harrogate & Knaresborough Association, has resigned after advocating for the abortion of babies with Down syndrome. In letters he wrote to conservative MP Andrew Jones, Upex talked about bloodletting in Britain by piano wire, and talked about how babies with Down syndrome should be aborted. In […]","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2014-02-07T23:44:41+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-02-10T13:50:37+00:00","og_image":[{"width":"320","height":"231","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/03\/downs-child.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cassy Cooke","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cassy Cooke","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/"},"author":{"name":"Cassy Cooke","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392"},"headline":"Ukip chairman advocates for abortion of babies with Down syndrome","datePublished":"2014-02-07T23:44:41+00:00","dateModified":"2014-02-10T13:50:37+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/"},"wordCount":406,"commentCount":1,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["abortion","Andrew Jones","Cassy Fiano","disability","Down syndrome","eugenic","Geoffrey Clark","John Upex"],"articleSection":["International"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/","name":"Ukip chairman advocates for abortion of babies with Down syndrome - Live Action News","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2014-02-07T23:44:41+00:00","dateModified":"2014-02-10T13:50:37+00:00","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/ukip-chairman-advocates-for-abortion-of-babies-with-down-syndrome\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Ukip chairman advocates for abortion of babies with Down syndrome"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392","name":"Cassy Cooke","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cassy Cooke"},"description":"Cassy has over 20 years of experience as a writer and editor, most of which have been spent covering pro-life issues like abortion, disability rights, euthanasia, and more.","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/cassy-fiano\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46038"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=46038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/46038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12592"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=46038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=46038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=46038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}