{"id":94348,"date":"2016-05-17T12:06:05","date_gmt":"2016-05-17T16:06:05","guid":{"rendered":"\/news\/?p=94348"},"modified":"2016-05-17T13:36:48","modified_gmt":"2016-05-17T17:36:48","slug":"uk-parents-call-down-syndrome-testing-state-sponsored-eugenics","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/uk-parents-call-down-syndrome-testing-state-sponsored-eugenics\/","title":{"rendered":"UK parents call new Down syndrome testing ‘state-sponsored eugenics’"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Dominic Lawson is the father of Domenica, a beautiful, 21 year old woman living with Down syndrome. He\u00a0is also a columnist for the UK Daily Mail, who recently wrote a\u00a0piece<\/a>\u00a0strongly against a new screening process that detects Down’s syndrome. He wrote:<\/p>\n

\n

The Department of Health is about to approve a scheme designed to bring about a world in which people like my youngest daughter will cease to exist.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Dawson is referring to a new non-invasive prenatal screening (NIPT) called \u2018cell-free DNA\u2019 or \u2018cfDNA’. Cell-free DNA<\/a> works by analyzing fetal cells in the mother\u2019s blood and genetically testing them for signs of abnormalities.\u00a0A pilot study<\/a> (RAPID) commissioned by the \u00a0United Kingdom National Screening committee concluded that if implemented, cfDNA would lead to 102 more babies with Down syndrome being detected every year.<\/p>\n

Figures from The National Down Syndrome Cytogenetic Register for England and Wales: 2013 Annual Report <\/a>show that 90% of babies who are prenatally diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted. If the pilot study is correct, 102 more babies with Trisomy 21 would be detected due to cfDNA testing with 92 of these preborn children projected to be aborted.<\/p>\n

According to a campaign against the testing called “Don’t Screen Us Out<\/a>,’ this could lead to a\u00a0decline of 13% reported live births of babies with Down syndrome.<\/p>\n

Lawson is disheartened over the way in which this testing is being applauded. One newspaper spoke enthusiastically of ‘the eradication’ of Down syndrome. Lawson believes this campaign’s \u00a0aim is to reduce people based solely on their possible disabilities. He writes:<\/p>\n

\n

The purpose of the medical campaign, however, is clear: it is to encourage more expectant mothers to undergo the screening process, on the grounds that it has been made less risky. But there is also a hidden agenda, which can properly be described as state-sponsored eugenics.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

Lawson shares the accusations he received when the public discovered his family didn’t undergo pre-natal screening. A well known nurse wrote an article saying,\u00a0<\/span>‘The Lawsons will not be paying the full price of their choice,’\u00a0and claiming “society would have to bear the burden of the ‘misery’ of his daughter’s life.” Lawson says that thinking is the same used by a German academic Karl Binding whose book, <\/span>Permitting The Destruction Of Life Unworthy Of Life<\/em>, was used to influence the Nazis in forcing the mentally disabled to be\u00a0euthanized.<\/p>\n

\"via

via DontScreenUsOut.org Facebook page<\/p><\/div>\n

Similar sentiments are being voiced by concerned parents in the \u201cDon\u2019t Screen Us Out” campaign. They say the cfDNA test should not be implemented into the UK Fetal Anomaly Screening Programme at this time. Their\u00a0website<\/a>\u00a0states:<\/p>\n

\n

Implementing cfDNA screening at this stage would effectively mean introducing a worsened form of informal eugenics into our culture, particularly as a public perception that screening is now \u2018easier\u2019 may lead to a societal view that there is a duty to screen.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

They’re asking\u00a0for a delay to address issues such as:<\/p>\n