Precious Life responds to Irish Times article: "Presbyterian report bans abortion in rape, incest cases"

In an article covering the Presbyterian Church in Ireland’s opposition to abortion in cases where an unborn child has been conceived in rape or incest or has been diagnosed with a life-limiting disability, Irish Times journalist Patsy McGarry crudely refers to anencephaly as a condition “where the foetus has no brain”.

If a person ‘didn’t have a brain’, that person wouldn’t be alive. But, contrary to what many mothers are told, such as Sarah Ewart who was told her unborn baby with anencephaly was “just a dead body, that’s it”,[1] babies with anencephaly are alive, and their lives deserve to be cherished and protected.  

For Patsy McGarry to claim that an unborn baby with anencephaly “has no brain” is horrifyingly misleading and inexcusable. It is simply not true.

Anencephaly is a condition where the neural tube fails to form properly during the early stages of development in the womb, resulting in the unborn child developing without the cerebral hemispheres or a cerebellum. However, it is not the case that a child with anencephaly, whether born or unborn, ”has no brain” or is brain dead. His or her brainstem is still functioning which is why he or she can breathe without ventilators and can often survive for a few hours or even several days when born.

In a 2006 study of 303 unborn babies diagnosed with anencephaly who were carried to term or until spontaneous premature birth, 7% died in utero, 27% lived between 1 and 24 hours, 17% lived between 1 and 5 days and 5% lived for 6 or more days.[2]

In a 2012 study of 180 pregnancies where unborn children were diagnosed with anencephaly, of the 53 mothers who continued their pregnancy, 20 babies were stillborn and 33 babies were liveborn. The average survival time was 51 minutes.[3]

Babies with anencephaly are not “fatal foetal abnormalities”, babies with “no brain”, or dead bodies, but severely disabled little babies who need our love and care, no matter how brief their lives may be.

Finally, Patsy McGarry outlines that the Presbyterian Church accepts abortion “where there is a threat to the mother’s life”. According to a report prepared by the church’s abortion task group, the church believes “direct action with the intention or foreseen effect of taking the life of the unborn child is justified” in such cases.

This is greatly concerning, not only because the task group appears to have ignored the fact that abortion is never necessary to save the life of the mother, as many doctors have testified,[4] but that the direct and intentional killing of an unborn child is never morally justified. 

 It is urged that the church’s abortion task group researches the wealth of medical evidence which effectively dispels the myth that abortion, the direct and intentional killing of an unborn child, treats or cures any medical condition. It is hoped that the Presbyterian Church’s stance on abortion will then be brought fully into line with the conviction that every unborn child is of is of immeasurable value and dignity, by virtue of his or her very humanity, which grounds his or her right to life with no exceptions.

 

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