Pro-Life News in Brief.(Brief Article)

Prenatal Diagnoses Lead to More Abortions in Canada

A drop in infant mortality in Canada can be attributed in large part to a huge increase in abortions of unborn babies diagnosed with birth defects, according to a study published in the March 27 edition of the Journal of the American Medical Association.

Dr. Shiliang Liu, an epidemiologist with the Center for Healthy Human Development (a division of Health Canada in Ottawa), led the study. The team found that abortions taking place between the 20th and 21st week of pregnancy, the time when amniocentesis or other prenatal diagnostic tests are performed, rose 578 percent from 1991 to 1998. Overall abortion rates during this time were stable, and even showed slight declines, the CBC reported.

According to Dr. I. D. Rusen of Health Canada, the drop in infant deaths does not mean that fewer babies are conceived with disabilities. "They still were occurring for the most part," he told the CBC, "it's just that the pregnancies were ending once the diagnosis was made."

Parents of children born with disabilities said that they were saddened that so many special children were being killed before they had the chance to live. Bonetta Sanchez, mother of nine-year-old Eduardo, who has Down syndrome, told the CBC, "Raising a child with special needs has the same joys and challenges of the typically developing child."

Wisconsin Court Upholds Infant's Right to Live

The 1st District Court of Appeals in Wisconsin dismissed a "wrongful ...