It's Eugenics in Iceland - not 'Eradication'

Penny Nance of Concerned Women for America also reacts to the story, saying it's "just one more step down the road of becoming a culture that devalues human life and sees people with disabilities, whether cognitive or physical, as less than everyone else."

The government in Iceland mandates that each pregnant woman be apprised of the availability of tests to determine whether a preborn child has abnormalities, but the tests themselves aren't legally imposed on them. However, an estimated 80 to 85 percent of those women do take the tests – and if a medical condition such as Down syndrome is detected, a woman can abort their child after 16 weeks.

The result in Iceland, according to the news report, is an average of one or two Down syndrome children born each year in a population of around 330,000. The tests are only about 85 percent accurate, meaning it is likely that healthy babies are being aborted.

Iceland isn't alone in high abortion rates for Down syndrome babies. In the U.S. the estimated rate is 67 percent, in France it's 77 percent, and in Denmark 98 percent. Nance offers a solution.

"Talk to families who have children with Down syndrome or other family members with Down syndrome," she tells OneNewsNow. "They recognize that these are essential parts of their family and that they bring their own love and importance to that family."

She also challenges the statement that Iceland is close to eliminating Down syndrome. "Iceland is not eradicating Down syndrome," says Nance. "They're destroying babies with Down syndrome."

(Charlie Butts/Judy Brown, “It's eugenics in Iceland - not 'eradication',” OneNewNow Online, 8/16/17).