CHRISTCHURCH A proposed national screening system for unborn children with Downs syndrome is being condemned as eugenics by pro-life advocates. Media reports state that first-trimester screening will get public funding from February 2010. Public funding for second-trimester testing was reinstated last year.

The proposed first-trimester test, in the first 13 weeks of pregnancy, combines blood tests with an ultrasound exam to measure the thickness of the neck of the unborn child.

Family Life Internationals Brendan Malone said news of the proposed national screening programme is very disturbing.

This programme will simply result in babies with Downs syndrome being targeted with abortion in an attempt to weed out these people from our society, Mr Malone said.

An FLI statement said this type of screening programme has led to babies with Downs syndrome being aborted at the rate of 95 per cent in Spain, 90 per cent in the United Kingdom and 84 per cent in Norway.

Mr Malone said the screening method is not 100 per cent accurate and will also lead to the abortion of babies without disabilities.

He said the proposal sends a message to disabled people that they are not as welcome in New Zealand as people without disabilities. The screening method is not healthcare, rather it is unjust eugenics and has no place in New Zealand, Mr Malone said.

As a human family, we are advantaged by the presence of disabled people who live among us.

Right to Lifes Ken Orr said the proposed national screening programme is a further manifestation of a culture of death.

This is eugenics which proclaims that only the perfect have a right to be born, Mr Orr said, adding that the Government wants to conceal the true nature of the programme by calling it quality improvement.