Perhaps the most unsettling aspect of abortion is how the scariest kind of eugenics-- killing the handicapped-- has become routine and, apparently, uncontroversial. In Britain, a cleft palate is enough of a defect to allow your elimination. From The Guardian:
Joanna Jepson is taking Paul West, chief constable of West Mercia police, to court
because she says he sanctioned an illegal abortion by failing to investigate a pregnancy
termination after the six month legal limit.
An unnamed woman chose to abort the foetus after finding out it would be born with a
cleft lip and palate - although the pregnancy was past 24 weeks. After this time an
abortion can only be carried out if there is a risk of serious handicap.
A curate is taking legal action to force police to investigate a late abortion on a
woman who did not want to have a baby with a cleft palate.
I wonder if the foetus would have been viable if delivered as a premature baby? Is
having bad eyesight a serious handicap? Unlike a cleft palate, poor eyesight often
cannot be cured by an operation (and never could until recent years).
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