A World Without Down Children
Right to Life Media Release 2nd April 2017
The United Nations has declared that 21st March is a day to celebrate the International Day for Down syndrome. It is
totally hypocritical when Europe and the West are not celebrating the contribution that our brothers and sisters with
Down syndrome are making to our communities but instead are screening them for extinction.
Right to Life believes that screening for Down syndrome has become a search and destroy mission. It is promoting
eugenics under the guise of health care and patient choice. In Europe 98 per cent of babies with Down syndrome are
killed before birth. In Britain it is 90 percent. In New Zealand it is 60 per cent. Right to Life warns that we are on a
path to eliminate the Down syndrome community. It is abhorrent that this genocide crime against humanity is being
condoned and paid for by our New Zealand government. Tomorrow we could have tests for Autism, Schizophrenia and low IQ.
Right to Life believes that the screening programme violates Article 6 and 7 of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court at The Hague, through the persecution of an identifiable group of the population namely those with Down syndrome. Several years ago
a complaint of genocide made by Saving Down Org and Right to Life was rejected by the Court at the Hague.
The Crimes Act allows for children who are seriously disabled to be killed before birth. The Act states; That there is a substantial risk that the child, if born, would be so physically or mentally abnormal as to be seriously
handicapped .. HOWEVER…,
The World Health Organisation classifies Down syndrome as a mild to moderate disability. Why then are Certifying Consultants and abortionists authorising and performing abortions that are unlawful?
When Right to Life, wrote to the Abortion Supervisory Committee in 2010, requesting that they protect the right to life
of unborn children with Down Syndrome and asked, Does the Committee accept that Down syndrome is a mild to moderate disability and as such does not reach the threshold
of a serious handicap as required by s 187A [1] [aa] of the Crimes Act 1961?
The Committee replied “The Abortion Supervisory Committee has no view on this matter. It is not the Committee’s role to determine the level of
disability associated with Down syndrome.”
Right to Life supports the Saving Down Syndrome organization (Facebook) , which is committed to seeking effective legal protection for the lives of our brothers and sisters who have Down
syndrome.
Pablo Pineda, the first person with Down Syndrome in Europe to obtain a major degree from a regular university, said having Down
syndrome did not limit him from conducting a regular life: “For me it is a personal characteristic. I am fine and
healthy. We must not be treated as sick.”
Ken Orr
Spokesperson,
Right to Life