Exclusive Report Summary: Twenty Years of Eugenic Abortion at Ontario Catholic Hospital
December 11, 2008 (LifeSiteNews.com) – In today's feature report it is revealed that a Catholic Hospital in London, Ontario has for the last 20 years permitted "early induction" abortions in cases of lethal fetal anomaly. (To see the full length report, including extensive comments from the Catholic Priest ethicist primarliy responsible for the situation, go to: http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08121111.html)
Recently LifeSiteNews obtained a copy of the hospital guidelines that permit the procedure, and spoke with the chief ethicist for the diocese of London who penned the guidelines.
Fr. Michael Prieur attempted to defend the use of the procedure, saying that it is not abortion, and admitted, "We've been doing it for twenty years now."
In an "early induction" abortion, medical staff induce labor after in utero diagnosis determines that a baby is severely handicapped. Labour is induced at a point so early in pregnancy (21 weeks) that it would be impossible even for a healthy child to live outside the womb without highly specialized intensive care; under these circumstances a severely handicapped child is unlikely survive more than mere minutes.
Early induction in cases of lethal fetal anomaly has been condemned as illicit by the US Bishops' Doctrinal Committee and called "direct abortion" by the National Catholic Bioethics Center (NCBC).
According to Fr. Prieur, the bishop of the London diocese, Bishop Ronald Fabbro, is aware of the fact that the hospital permits the early inductions. The Bishop, however, refused to comment on the situation.
Jim Hughes, National President of Campaign Life Coalition commented, saying, "All of this sounds pretty appalling to me. It sounds to me like this is nothing more than abortion dressed up in more attractive clothing." Hughes concluded: "Can some Catholic authority please put an end to the abortions going on at the Catholic hospital in London. Is this the only Catholic hospital that's doing this or is this widespread?"
To read today's full length feature report, see:
http://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2008/dec/08121111.html
To express concerns:
Bishop Ronald Fabbro
Diocese of London
1070 Waterloo Street, London, Ontario N6A 3Y2
Phone: 519-433-0658 Fax: 519-433-0011
E-mail: info@rcec.london.on.ca
His Eminence William Cardinal Levada, S.T.D.
Cardinal Prefect Congregation for Doctrine of the Faith
Piazza del S. Uffizio 11
00193 Rome
Italy
email: cdf@cfaith.va
011 39 06 6988 3357
011-39-0696100596 FAX
