Posted on 04/20/2007 4:23:53 PM PDT by wagglebee
BIRMINGHAM, April 20, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) The UKs Evening Standard reports on a new study of hospitals in the West Midlands region of England that has found that one in 30 babies aborted for medical reasons is born alive and lived for an average of 80 minutes.
The study, conducted by the West Midlands Perinatal Institute and published in the British Journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, looked at 3,189 abortions performed on seriously handicapped babies at 20 hospitals between 1995 and 2004. Some of the children born alive after attempted abortion lived as long as six hours. Most of the children in the study were between 20 and 24 weeks old when they were killed.
102 of the seriously handicapped, killed for having Downs syndrome or heart defects, survived the procedure. Under British law, abortion up to 24 weeks is allowed for health reasons including the idea that pregnancy might be a threat to the mental health or well-being of the mother. After that point a severe handicap such as Downs syndrome or a cleft palate is necessary.
Most of the abortions were what is now called medical meaning chemically induced miscarriages in which the child dies from the trauma of premature birth. This method, the study found, results in the high numbers of survivals, particularly in later term children.
The studys numbers are described by the Evening Standard as the tip of the iceberg given that the West Midlands region accounts for only a tenth of the terminations in the UK.
The pro-life group Alive and Kicking said, This can't just be happening in the West Midlands. It begs the question of how many healthy babies must be surviving? It would suggest the true figure must be much higher.
With live births after abortion occurring in 18 out of the 20 maternity units in the West Midlands alone, it is difficult to comprehend the numbers of babies around the country left fighting for their lives.
Pro-Life Ping
Freepmail wagglebee or little jeremiah to subscribe or unsubscribe from the moral absolutes ping list.
FreeRepublic moral absolutes keyword search
Down’s Syndrome children are surely difficult, but I’ve seen many families learn great joy from them.
With today’s advances in cosmetic surgery, cleft palates are a non-issue and even the most accomplished plastic surgeons will almost always do the surgery at no cost for families that can’t afford it.
I know several plastic surgeons who regularly do cleft palate reconstruction at no cost to the child’s family.
Not any more. Something upwards of 80% are now being aborted in this country.
One minor quibble with your statement.
They aren’t dying, they’re being killed.
That is beyond words.
This article mentions cleft palates as being a “severe handicap.”
SO barbaric. They should make the moms hold those babies while they die. Our friends lost their baby about that age; they were devastated. This is so barbaric.
They do have Universal Health care, but I wonder if one of the reasons the doctors over there encourage them to abort is so they can save money that would be used to fix the cleft pallet and care for the child for life, or in the case of Down’s syndrome, the health care costs would be quite high for life. I bet they’d like to get euthanasia to take out some of the very physically or mentally ill.
Of course, in the U.S. children are aborted with a cleft pallet and Down’s syndrome. Some of those would have probably have had to go on medicaid or medicare (I always get the two mixed up) here so the doctors push abortion. Even if the parents can afford it, they often push abortion too. They claim the child would not be happy, and it would be too hard on the parents.
I think handicap groups should get up in arms and say people with handicaps are just as valuable as people without handicaps. Really, a person is a person regardless of location. If they can kill them in the womb even in later stages of gestation, why can’t they kill them outside of it?
It’s odd because the gay rights groups would be up in arms if it could be determined children were gay in the womb, and parents chose to abort. I would never do it, but I would imagine someone might. They would claim it’s not fair even though they have a higher risk for certain health problems due to their sexual behaivor and a higher risk for depression. Of course it wouldn’t be fair, but the point is that killing a person because of a health issue or a certain characteristic you don’t like about them is wrong. The handicap groups should be up in arms like the gay groups would be.
Before
After
Before and After
I agree. However, I think they use that as an excuse to promote abortion and also have one less person to care for on the health care system.
If the left could get away with it, they would be using brown eyes and freckles as a reason to commit infanticide.
I believe some of them might. They already support sex selection abortions which are causing a lot of trouble in countries such as China and India. The population of man is starting to outweigh that of women. It will be a problem in the future.
Maybe I don't have all the information that I need to intelligently respond (but when has that stopped the OldPossum?), but I have an 18-year-old nephew who was born with a severe cleft palate problem and a jaw deformity. So far the poor kid has undergone some 17 surgeries as the doctors adjust for the growth of his jaw. It seems to me that they also make adjustments for his palate problem as well.
So, what I am saying is that this is not a simple problem, cured with one operation if my nephew is typical. Would appreciate it if a medical professional would jump in here and comment.
My understanding is that the surgical advances of the last decade have been remarkable. They are able to do things today that were only dreamed of 18 years ago. And with any surgery, the younger patients generally heal faster and more completely. I posted some before and after pictures earlier in the thread.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.