Influential British mom: Selective termination is genocide
July 17th, 2008From the [London] Evening Standard:
Caroline Armstrong-Jones, the leading British event planner whose daughter India has Down syndrome, says in an interview that she is concerned about the selective termination of pregnancies in which Down syndrome is diagnosed.
Armstrong-Jones and her husband Peregrine are well-connected members of London society. They handled the arrangements for the wedding of David Beckham to Victoria Adams (Posh Spice) and of the Queen’s grandson Peter Phillips to Autumn Kelly.
“As a mother of a Down’s syndrome child, I know that they have a contribution to make and that they live entirely viable lives,” [Caroline Armstrong-Jones] says. “There is something horrific to me in the idea that they might all be weeded out or got rid of.
“I think, on a greater level, a part of me feels that, in 100 or 200 years’ time, what we’re doing now will be seen as a form of genocide, a terrible thing that we all thought was OK because it was legal and because the doctors and politicians said we could do it.
“There’s a feeling that perhaps it’s too expensive to have these very different people around, or perhaps even too frightening, and I think that’s a huge loss.
“Society is obsessed with perfection which, paradoxically, is a very flawed way of thinking. I know that I’m in the minority on this and I sometimes feel that I’m the madwoman and everyone else is sane. But for me there’s no grey area here; it’s a black and white issue.”
Peregrine Armstrong-Jones is the half brother of Lord Snowdon, the former Anthony Armstrong-Jones, the society photographer who was was once married to and ultimately divorced from the Queen’s sister Margaret.
Note: This story, from July 8, 2008, is not available on the newspaper’s website but can be accessed here.
Our RSS Feed