ISSUES
Disability discrimination
What's going on?
It is currently legal in New Zealand to abort an unborn baby because, if born, it would be “so physically or mentally abnormal as to be seriously handicapped.” Such “abnormalities” may include Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, cleft palate, or malformed or missing limbs or organs.
Babies with these and other conditions may be legally aborted up to 20 weeks gestation – 90 such abortions were performed on the grounds of disability in 2016. After 20 weeks, unborn babies believed to have a disability can be aborted on the grounds of causing a significant danger to their mother’s mental or physical health. Statistics from the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee show that about 82% of post-20 week abortions are associated with “congenital abnormalities.”
Some disabilities are incompatible with life – the child will die before, during, or just after he or she is born – but many are not, though they may be limiting or may entail a life that is different from that of those without a disability.
It is unknown what percentage of prenatal diagnoses of a disability, like Down Syndrome, result in an abortion in New Zealand. But overseas, in countries like the UK, over 90% of unborn babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted.
It is currently legal in New Zealand to abort an unborn baby because, if born, it would be “so physically or mentally abnormal as to be seriously handicapped.” Such “abnormalities” may include Down Syndrome, cerebral palsy, spina bifida, cleft palate, or malformed or missing limbs or organs.
Babies with these and other conditions may be legally aborted up to 20 weeks gestation – 90 such abortions were performed on the grounds of disability in 2016. After 20 weeks, unborn babies believed to have a disability can be aborted on the grounds of causing a significant danger to their mother’s mental or physical health. Statistics from the Perinatal and Maternal Mortality Review Committee show that about 82% of post-20 week abortions are associated with “congenital abnormalities.”
Some disabilities are incompatible with life – the child will die before, during, or just after he or she is born – but many are not, though they may be limiting or may entail a life that is different from that of those without a disability.
It is unknown what percentage of prenatal diagnoses of a disability, like Down Syndrome, result in an abortion in New Zealand. But overseas, in countries like the UK, over 90% of unborn babies diagnosed with Down Syndrome are aborted.
Why should we care?
Back in the 1970s, when the current abortion laws were drafted, the status of people with disabilities was pretty low – they were considered “abnormal,” and very few efforts were made to ensure people with disabilities were included in society.
We’ve come a long way in the last 40 years. As signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, New Zealand strives to ensure equal treatment of and to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities.
One glaring area where we fail at better serving and including our people with disabilities is in the area of abortion law. Inclusion in no other class of people is grounds for abortion – the law doesn’t say you can legally abort baby girls, or babies with type A blood – just babies with a disability. The law feeds into and perpetuates the discriminatory notion that a disabled life is a life not worth living.
Back in the 1970s, when the current abortion laws were drafted, the status of people with disabilities was pretty low – they were considered “abnormal,” and very few efforts were made to ensure people with disabilities were included in society.
We’ve come a long way in the last 40 years. As signatories to the United Nations Convention on the Rights of People with Disabilities, New Zealand strives to ensure equal treatment of and to eliminate discrimination against people with disabilities.
One glaring area where we fail at better serving and including our people with disabilities is in the area of abortion law. Inclusion in no other class of people is grounds for abortion – the law doesn’t say you can legally abort baby girls, or babies with type A blood – just babies with a disability. The law feeds into and perpetuates the discriminatory notion that a disabled life is a life not worth living.
What can we do about it?
- Remove disability as a grounds for legal abortion
- Offer comprehensive support and counselling to families given a prenatal diagnosis of a disability, including information about their baby’s suspected condition, services available for families, and contact with advocacy and support groups associated with the baby’s suspected condition
- In conjunction with disability groups, prepare and distribute information on diagnosable conditions to all women undergoing prenatal testing
- Provide disability-awareness training to all radiologists, midwives, nurses, doctors, and social workers interacting with pregnant women and their families
For more information see: United Nations, Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities (2006); United Nations Committee on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, Concluding observations on the initial report of New Zealand (2014); H Choi et al, “Decision making following a prenatal diagnosis of Down Syndrome: an integrative review,” in Journal of Midwifery and Women’s Health (2012) 57:156-164.
More things we need to address: |
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