Sally Phillips with her son Olly Dear Editor, For over 40 years we were the fortunate parents of a beautiful son called Francis who had Down Syndrome. Francis passed away in 2013 and we will never get over our loss. We miss him so much. There isn’t a day we don’t think of Francis, quote him or reminisce amongst ourselves or with the neighbours about the antics he got up to, the job he went to, the music he loved etc. Francis contributed so much to our lives, the lives of our other children and our grandchildren and indeed all who came into contact with him. He brought tremendous joy to others, as do all people with Down Syndrome.
It is against this backdrop that we discovered with deep regret and heartache that the Master of our Rotunda Maternity Hospital cannot clarify a simple question that your newspaper reasonably put to him regarding the lives of those with Down Syndrome and abortion (IC 03/03/2016). Does he believe expectant mothers of babies with Down Syndrome should or should not be permitted to abort them in Ireland?
We know the same professor would like to see expectant mothers permitted to abort their babies in Ireland if they are unlikely to survive to birth or for long afterwards. He admitted on the Late Late Show to facilitating the premature ending of 28 sick Irish babies’ lives in the UK. One is tempted to make the inference therefore that if the professor believes one sick Irish baby can be prematurely killed in the womb under the proviso of parental choice, that he may also believe that the lives of babies with Down Syndrome should be equally dispensable here.
It is common knowledge that in some continental countries where abortion gradually became more permissive, that people who had Down Syndrome have become practically invisible. Why? Because abortion for such unborn babies, after being introduced as a ‘choice,’ began to be seen as an ‘expectation,’ especially by some medics and then by society generally.
Yours etc.,
Seán and Christine Kearney,
Ballinhassig,
Co. Cork.