London, England, Jul 13, 2011 / 01:10 am
After a long legal battle, abortion statistics released by the British government show a “shocking level of discrimination” against the disabled, pro-life groups said.
“Between 2001 and 2010, the number of abortions on the ground of disability rose by one-third, 10 times that of abortions generally. It is clear that legal abortion is a system which discriminates, fatally, against the disabled,” commented Anthony Ozimic, the communications manager of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children.
The British Department of Health has released the numbers, gestational ages and types of disabilities of babies aborted between 2002 and 2010. In 2010, 482 babies with Down’s syndrome were aborted.
Sixty-six of the late abortions in 2010 were linked to nervous system problems such as spina bifida. No late-term abortions were carried out for cleft lip and palate, but seven were carried out before the legal limit of 24 weeks for this reason, the BBC reports.