Wow. How did this one get past the censors? It was incredible. Sally Phillips’ documentary about the ethics of screening for Down’s syndrome moved me – to the apparently contrary emotions of anger and compassion.
I’m not ashamed to admit I wept – not just a wee cry, but sobbed. Why? Because it was a most revealing portrait of what a world will look like without God. Take the following quotes from the documentary: “Protect yourselves from the doctors – refuse screening”
There is a large proportion of the medical profession who think that people with Down’s syndrome have lives that are not worth living. They put pressure on pregnant women to have an abortion. How can people who are supposed to be devoted to saving life be so callous about taking it?
“If we have a society that is unable to care for people, then the problem is not the person” These words were spoken by Sally in response to a health professional who quizzed her on whether she had considered the fact that her son Olly who has Down’s syndrome would one day need to be looked after when Sally herself is gone. How can the same people who justly bemoan government cuts to disability argue for the right to kill the disabled in the womb? In what world does that make any sense?
“Who should decide that we do not have the right to exist? We have lives just like everyone else” This was from Halldora, a lady with Down's syndrome from Iceland, where screening has led to 100 per cent of parents deciding to abort their Down's syndrome children in the womb.
“We felt this was the best thing for the baby….they injected the heart….one minute you could feel him wriggling around and then the next minute he was gone…it’s every parent's right to decide what’s right for their child”
This was spoken by a woman who at 25 weeks had her baby aborted because of Down’s syndrome. Can you see how chilling this is? Killing the child is the best thing for them? The illogicality of this is exceeded only by its cruelty and callousness.
Toward the end, Phillips asked, “Greater choice does not lead to greater happiness…is choice all it’s cracked up to be? What kind of world will Olly be living in when he is my age?”
We need to think seriously about this. What kind of world are we creating with this goddess of choice? The answer is surely, a godless one which doesn’t bear thinking about. Killing children because they are inconvenient is a doctrine of demons. It is from the pit of hell.
I’m angry at the grotesque and evil route that our society is being driven down. But I’m not despondent, nor will I give up. We have to spread the word. All human beings are made in the image of God. All have a right to life. Watch and weep. Learn and love. Preach the word, in season and out of season… and let’s turn the world upside down!
DAVID ROBERTSON is the minister of St Peter’s Free Church in Dundee and director of Solas Centre for Public Christianity. For more opinion on the latest trends, topics, news and culture from a Christian perspective, visit premierchristianity.com/blog
