Printed from: https://archive.cmf.org.uk/advocacy/pressrelease/?id=25
Published: 2nd July 2004
The new scanning technique, pioneered by Professor Stuart Campbell at London’s Create Health Clinic, gives much more detailed images than conventional ultrasound, showing detailed 3D images, as well as recording foetal movement in real time.
‘To see babies stretching, walking, kicking and leaping about the womb at twelve weeks gestation brings powerfully home to us the richness of life before birth and will undoubtedly reignite the abortion debate. 22,119 babies aged 13 weeks or over were aborted in England and Wales in 2002, largely for social reasons, and we know that babies move considerably earlier than this. The heart is beating from 21 days!’
‘This new technology will help many more people to appreciate that unborn children are members of the human family worthy of wonder, protection, empathy and respect. But it could also be a two-edged sword, by enabling more babies with more trivial abnormalities to be sought out and destroyed before birth. There were 1,863 abortions for fetal abnormality in England and Wales in 2002, and over 90% of babies with Down’s syndrome diagnosed before birth are currently aborted. The case of a baby being aborted for cleft palate recently provoked huge outrage.’
‘The way we treat the weakest and most vulnerable members of our society speaks volumes about the type of society we are’, concluded Saunders. ‘At its very heart the Christian ethic is about the strong making sacrifices for the weak.’
Steven Fouch (CMF Head of Communications) 020 7234 9668
Alistair Thompson on 07970 162 225
Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) was founded in 1949 and is an interdenominational organisation with over 5,000 doctors, 900medical and nursing students and 300 nurses and midwives as members in all branches of medicine, nursing and midwifery. A registered charity, it is linked to over 100 similar bodies in other countries throughout the world.
CMF exists to unite Christian healthcare professionals to pursue the highest ethical standards in Christian and professional life and to increase faith in Christ and acceptance of his ethical teaching.
