Television pundit Virginia Ironside prompted outrage yesterday after stating on the BBC’s Sunday Morning Live show that she would suffocate a child to end its suffering.
Miss Ironside said: 'If I were the mother of a suffering child - I mean a deeply suffering child - I would be the first to want to put a pillow over its face... If it was a child I really loved, who was in agony, I think any good mother would.'
The controversial writer also claimed that 'a loving mother' would abort an unwanted or disabled baby, and praised abortion as 'a moral and unselfish act'.
Miss Ironside has previously argued that doctors should not fight to save very premature babies.
Disability campaigners were horrified at her comments on the BBC show. Disabled rights activist Clair Lewis accused Miss Ironside of using physical suffering as an excuse for advocating eugenics.
GP Peter Evans, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said: 'For us to make judgments that people are not worth life, not worth the opportunity to live, is a very dangerous thing.'
Andrea Minichiello Williams commented: “We are astonished at the comments made by Virginia Ironside. To suggest that a good mother would take a child’s life because it is suffering is deeply irresponsible and wrong. Those who are suffering need to be shown compassion and given the best care available, not killed by their parents. Her suggestion that aborting disabled babies can be a ‘moral and unselfish act’ attacks the value of disabled people and the sanctity of life. Disabled people need help and support to live, not to die. Turning away from the Christian values that this country has been built upon could well result in terrible consequences for the vulnerable.”
You can view some of Miss Ironside’s comments on YouTube here.
Sources:
Resources
Christian Legal Centre booklet: Abortion