Right to Life New Zealand and a group of parents of children with Down syndrome are taking the New Zealand Government to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in an attempt to stop early screening for Down syndrome during pregnancy.
Right to Life spokesman Ken Orr says pressure is put on women who are carrying a Down syndrome baby to have abortions, and the Government screening programme is a "creeping in" of eugenics, a selective breeding movement made infamous by Nazi Germany.
Mr Orr told Firstline this morning that the screening programme is “a search and destroy program which targets and discriminates against babies with Down syndrome”.
“Babies with Down syndrome are being targeted in this program, and the numbers of babies born with Down syndrome will diminish,” he says.
He says while it is “difficult” to compare war crimes – often dealt with by the ICC – with the screening programme, the Government screening aims to diminish the number of Down syndrome children and is “introducing a philosophy of eugenics into New Zealand”.
“We have to look at the end objective of the screening programme… the objective of diminishing the number of children born with Down syndrome,” he says.
While he agrees with doctors that it’s better for parents to be prepared for a child with Down syndrome, Mr Orr says the test should take place later in pregnancy.
He says “anecdotal evidence” from New Zealand shows doctors are putting pressure on women carrying a Down syndrome child to have a termination.
“If a baby's diagnosed with Down syndrome pressure is put on her to choose to have a termination, to abort her child, and to try again,” he says.
“This is changing the culture, it's a gradual creeping in of a program of eugenics.”
Watch the video for the full interview
3 News