Britain’s NHS Asks Moms Not to Abort Disabled Babies, but There’s a Morbid Reason Why

British organ transplant specialists want the country’s National Health Service to encourage parents considering aborting their disabled unborn children to carry them to term so their parts can be harvested.

While proponents say the harvesting won’t happen until the baby is dead, that could mean “brain-dead,” raising the prospect of other bodily functions being intentionally terminated at the optimum moment for removal of organs.

The practice has generated strong criticism from ethicists, and though pro-life advocates appreciate that officials would encourage parents to carry their children to term, they are criticizing the underlying idea that reduces babies to spare parts.

Dr. Anthony McCarthy, a bioethicist and the education director of the London-based Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), told LifeSiteNews, “Babies should be spared abortion because they are babies – not because they are useful to others if taken to term.”

The issue was raised at a British Transplantation Society meeting in Glasgow last week, reported in the Daily Mail. There transplant surgeon Niad Ahmad reported that health officials would soon be trained to approach parents who have decided to abort their unborn children because of defects to carry them to term for harvesting. “A number of staff in the NHS are not aware that these organs can be used. They need to be aware. They can be transplanted. They work. And they work long term,” Dr. Ahmad reportedly told the gathering. (Read more from “Britain’s NHS Asks Moms Not to Abort Disabled Babies, but There’s a Morbid Reason Why” HERE)

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