According to CBS News on August 14, 2017, Iceland may soon be the first Down Syndrome-free country, since almost all fetuses with Down Syndrome are killed.
In this country of 330,000 people, only one or two children with Down Syndrome are born every year. According to the American media outlet, these rare births are due to prenatal testing “failures”. Icelandic women are allowed to abort after the 16th week of pregnancy if the fetus is found to have a deformity. Down syndrome is obviously included in this category. According the statistics offered by CBS News, “close to 100 percent of women who received a positive test for Down syndrome terminated their pregnancy”.
The episode shows Icelandic geneticist Kari Stefansson rejoicing that the country has “basically eradicated, almost, Down syndrome from our society”. Although there is nothing “anything wrong with aspiring to have healthy children”, he does wonder “how far we should go in seeking those goals”. “It is a fairly complicated decision,” he adds.
According to Jor-El Godsey, president of an American pro-life group that was also interviewed by CBS, it is actually quite simple: “These are precious human beings hand-crafted in the image of God, and no government or person on earth has the authority to rob persons with Down syndrome of their lives.”
Aborting fetuses with Down syndrome is a widespread practice throughout the world. Nearly 70% of all fetuses that present a risk are killed in the United States, 77% in France, 90% in Switzerland and 98% in Denmark.
