Politics

CBS Touts Iceland’s Plan To ‘Eliminate Down Syndrome Through Abortion’

Gammy, a baby born with Down's Syndrome, is fed by his surrogate mother in Chonburi province
Amber Athey Podcast Columnist
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Conservatives are fighting back hard after CBS reported on Iceland’s efforts to eliminate Down syndrome through abortion.

CBS tweeted their report “inside the country where Down syndrome is disappearing,” explaining that most women in Iceland take prenatal tests–that are only 85 percent accurate–to determine if their child has a high risk of being born with Down syndrome.

“The vast majority of women — close to 100 percent — who received a positive test for Down syndrome terminated their pregnancy,” CBS wrote.

Helga Sol Olafsdottir, who counsels women who are deciding whether or not to abort, told CBS that she tells the women, “This is your life — you have the right to choose how your life will look like.”

“We don’t look at abortion as a murder,” she continued. “We look at it as a thing that we ended.”

Conservatives lashed out at the report, citing abortion as murder and comparing Iceland’s practices to those of Nazi Germany.

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