15 Morningside Road, Edinburgh EH10 4DP, Tel: 0131 447 6394 or 0774 298 4459
1 December 2003
With respect to the court action taking place today (1 December 2003), in which a Church of England curate is making a bid to force an investigation into the late abortion of a foetus with cleft lip and palate, the Scottish Council on Human Bioethics would like to emphasise that clarification of the Law is required.
Dr. Calum MacKellar, Director of Research of the SCHB, indicated that “this case shows that abortion law needs to be clarified” adding that “if this is not done then society could stumble down the slippery slope towards ‘repro-eugenics’ in which babies are required to be prefect in order to be acceptable”.
The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics would also like to indicate that repro-eugenics, which describes the use, by parents, of human reproductive techniques such as abortion, cloning and embryo selection to choose the kind of children they want, is a growing trend on the global level which requires urgent public discussion.
Note: The Scottish Council on Human Bioethics was formed in 1997 as an independent, non-partisan council composed of physicians, lawyers, psychologists, ethicists and other professionals from disciplines associated with medical ethics. The principles to which the SCHB subscribes are set out in the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights adopted and proclaimed by the UN General Assembly by resolution 217A (III) on 10 December 1948.
Contact: Dr. Calum MacKellar, Scottish Council on Human Bioethics, Eric Liddell Centre, 15 Morningside Road, Edinburgh EH10 4DP, Tel: 0131 447 6394, e-mail Calum.MacKellar@schb.org.uk