BOTCHED ABORTION OF DOWN CHILD SPARKS DEBATE IN ITALY
The tragic case of a botched selective termination has thrown more petrol on to the smouldering abortion debate in Italy. A 38-year-old woman who was pregnant with twins discovered after a prenatal test that one of them had Down’s syndrome. Her gynaecologist performed a “foetal reduction” — but killed the healthy one by mistake. The two had changed position in the womb — “an act of fate that could not have been foreseen”, according to the gynaecologist. She was backed by the hospital. Later on, the Down’s syndrome child was also aborted. The woman and her husband, who already have a son, say that they are heartbroken.
The case was seized upon by opponents of abortion. “What happened in this hospital was not a medical abortion but an abortion done for the purposes of eugenics,” Senator Paola Binetti, a medical doctor and member of the national bioethics committee, wrote in the newspaper Corriere della Sera.
- How long can you put off seeing the doctor because of lockdowns? - December 3, 2021
- House of Lords debates assisted suicide—again - October 28, 2021
- Spanish government tries to restrict conscientious objection - October 28, 2021
More Stories
A first in France: a trans mum and a trans dad
Trigger warning: if you are easily confused by gender pronouns, this story from France may cause heart palpitations. February 19...
Nigerian power couple convicted in London over organ trafficking plot
In May last year, a young Nigerian man stumbled into a police station into the English town of Staines, in...
Cease and desist: Dutch sperm donor who has fathered 550 children is being sued
A Dutch woman and a foundation for children of sperm donors are suing a Dutch man for fathering too many...
Should intractable mental illness make you eligible for euthanasia?
Canada is in the middle of a vigorous debate about whether incurable mental illness is grounds for Medical Assistance in...
Belgium to permit multiple gender ID changes
Belgium will permit people to change their gender identity as often as they want. The Minister of Justice, Vincent Van...
Nature’s foray into politics may have backfired
In the 2020 election, a swag of high-profile science journals, including Nature, Science, The Lancet, and the New England Journal...