Report: 90% of Belgian Medics Support Infanticide of Babies with Disabilities

infanticide
PHILIPPE HUGUEN/AFP via Getty Images, File
Thomas D. Williams, Ph.D.

An extensive new survey revealed that nine out of ten medics in Belgium believe it is morally “acceptable” to take the life of a newborn baby born with a serious but non-lethal disability.

A team of researchers surveyed medics at all eight of the Neonatal Intensive Care Units in the Flanders region of Belgium and found that 89.1 per cent thought it morally proper to kill disabled newborns, a process euphemistically described as “after-birth abortion”.

The response rate to the survey was very high (79 per cent) and all respondents were either physicians (51.1 per cent) or paramedical professionals (49.9 per cent).

All of those taking part in the survey are involved in caring for babies born with a serious health condition and are designated as decision-makers for late-term abortions, the Christian Institute reported on Friday.

The study, which set out to discover “Healthcare professionals’ attitudes towards termination of pregnancy at viable stage”, found that medics working in this area of care had “a high degree of tolerance” for late-term abortions, with nearly all (95.6 per cent) saying they are open to the practice if an unborn baby’s disability is deemed “serious but not lethal”.

Among its conclusions, the study found that healthcare professionals practising late late-term abortions in Flanders “are demanding legislative change regarding active life‐ending in the fetal and neonatal periods” — meaning greater leeway to commit infanticide when they deem it appropriate.

The Belgian study mirrors results of a similar British study conducted in 2012 and published by the British Medical Journal (BMJ).

That study expressly affirmed that foetuses and newborn babies “do not have the same moral status as actual persons” and are, in fact, merely “potential persons” and therefore “morally irrelevant.” With this premise in mind, the authors “argue that what we call ‘after-birth abortion’ (killing a newborn) should be permissible in all the cases where abortion is, including cases where the newborn is not disabled.”

A Right To Life UK spokeswoman said it is “profoundly disturbing that these healthcare professionals, who should be upholding the right to life and giving every baby the best possible chance at life, are hugely in favour of ‘after-birth abortions’ and infanticide of babies with a disability.”

It is tragic that “intentionally ending the life of an unborn baby” has become “morally acceptable by these healthcare professionals in Belgium,” she added.

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