Abortion, Down’s and disability: CofE discriminates in favour of the beautiful soul
by Archbishop Cranmer:
“People with Down’s Syndrome should be welcomed, celebrated and treated with dignity and respect, members of the Church of England’s General Synod will hear next month.” So began the email from the Church of England announcing the release of papers for the February (8th-10th) session of Synod. It continued:
A motion affirming the dignity and humanity of people born with Down’s Syndrome is to be discussed by the General Synod at its February sessions in London. It comes as a new form of prenatal screening, Non-Invasive Prenatal Testing (NIPT), is set to be rolled out in the NHS to women deemed to be at ‘high-risk’ of having a child with Down’s syndrome.
The motion welcomes medical advances and calls for the Government and health professionals to ensure that women who have been told that their unborn child has Down’s Syndrome are given comprehensive, unbiased information on the condition.
It is a curious and confusing approach: the motion exhorts “the dignity and humanity of people born with Down’s Syndrome”, yet it manifestly concerns the screening of the unborn with Down’s Syndrome. What church does not treat Down’s people as people? Honestly, where in the Church of England are Down’s people not treated with dignity and respect?
Except when they’re in the womb, of course.
How can the Church of England look Down’s people in the eye while it sustains a rather blurred if not baffling approach to abortion? O, sure, there is the “clear and established policy”, as the paper Valuing People with Down’s Syndrome reminds us:
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