No equality rights in womb

READING the article (South Wales Argus March 18) about Down’s Syndrome Awareness week by Kate Powell (who has Down’s herself) and the work she puts in as editor of a magazine for people with Down’s, made me realise what a wonderful inspiration she is to people with Downs Syndrome, and other like her, who live a full life regardless of their disability. The sad thing about our society is that disabled people are discriminated against, as the Disability Rights Commission noted some years ago. It stated: “the 1967 Abortion Act is offensive to many people, it reinforces negative stereotypes of disability, when babies are aborted despite not carrying serious disabilities.”

The principle that people should not be discriminated against is held dear by many in our society and has been enshrined in law in various ways. The womb is one of the few places where disabled people are yet to achieve equality. One of the others, of course, is the IVF laboratory, where embryos that carry certain medical conditions are routinely discarded or destroyed.

Norman Plaisted Vivian Road Newport

Comments(1)

P C Neilson says...
3:54pm Sat 23 Mar 13

Sorry Plaisted, this latest thinly veiled attempt at justifying the 'pro life' stance using the disabled is not only disingenuous, but also rather repulsive.

It is quite obvious by your prose that you have not made any effort to understand or critcise your position on the 'real' topic that you are getting at here.

Essentially, all you have done here is snatched a few bytes of information from popular opinion, to bolster your confirmation bias style of thinking.

You clearly know nothing about living with disabilities, of how much independence a severly handicapped person might or might not be capable of when alone in the world. You know nothing about abortion except that you are against it.

But you don't say that do you? This is merely the latest in a long line of tacked on excuses to support the same old '1967' rhetoric you have been bleating out ad nauseum, for years.

I lived for a few years with someone that had down syndrome, I currently work with autism, and there are disabled people in my family. Did you really think this would be a nice thing to print? Your motives are dispicable.

This isn't about a fair crack for disabled people or discrimination or evil IVF labs, it's about YOU and your desire to push your, far right religious views.

Your type (pro lifers) are responsible for back street abortions, mental illnesses through forced ideals, and other such cases of crimes against humanity, such as that poor woman in Northern Island who was forced to die! along with the already dead baby inside her, because of 'someone elses' backwards beliefs!

Pro-lifers are monsters.

click2find

About cookies

We want you to enjoy your visit to our website. That's why we use cookies to enhance your experience. By staying on our website you agree to our use of cookies. Find out more about the cookies we use.

I agree