PARENTS facing a diagnosis of disability of their unborn children should be offered higher support, grounded on the inherent God-given dignity of all, the General Synod heard on Sunday afternoon.
It was the important thing message from a moving debate on a motion from the diocese of Liverpool, which challenged a culture of presuming a prenatal diagnosis of disability was a “tragedy”. It also urged each the NHS and the Church of England to enhance what is obtainable to oldsters.
The motion was passed, almost unanimously.
The debate was led by the Archdeacon of Knowsley and Sefton, the Ven. Pete Spiers, who was born disabled attributable to Thalidomide. He was deeply grateful that his parents didn’t have access to prenatal screening and were subsequently not faced with the dilemma of whether to terminate the pregnancy or not.
“With the precise support at the precise time, it is feasible to assist pregnant moms and their unborn children to hold on with their lives and be pleased,” he said. Whether a pregnancy proceeds or is ended, “love, compassion, and beauty are needed greater than anything.”
The motion was careful not to sentence parents who select an abortion, but several other speakers who were disabled or had disabled children echoed Archdeacon Spiers’ remarks.
In a speech that left few dry eyes across the chamber, Mary Bucknall (Deaf Anglicans Together) explained that she was born deaf owing to a genetic abnormality; she was relieved that her probability to live was not threatened by prenatal screening on the time.
She recognised that some argued that it will be higher to not be born with a disability, but she believed that God had a purpose when he created disabled people within the womb, “so his love and care may very well be displayed for all to see” — something she she said that had experienced.
Similarly, the Revd Valerie Plumb (Oxford), told her own story of being born with spina bifida, and the way her mother had been told that her baby would probably not live past the age of ten. “Do not surrender on hope, even when it seems hopeless,” was her message to oldsters facing an identical dilemma.
Sam Atkins/Church TimesThe Archbishop of Canterbury
Elaine Heath, one other deaf representative, said that she had refused prenatal testing for her children, as she could never have aborted them simply for being disabled. As well as addressing the needs of families, the Church must also hold in mind the needs of the unborn disabled children, too, “because that child too has a right to live”.
The Archbishop of Canterbury spoke of his daughter Ellie, who was neurodiverse and lived with him at Lambeth Palace. He and his wife had been offered various tests before she had been born, but all with an overbearing presumption that, if positive, a termination must quickly follow. Instead, they let the pregnancy proceed and have, he said, enjoyed 32 years of family with their “exceptionally precious” daughter.
Others spoke of their trials and struggles to secure the precise support, funding, and take care of their very own disabled children, and the failure of the Government to fund NHS services adequately for pregnant women post-diagnosis.
Also raised was the issue of the post-18 cliff-edge, when many services are withdrawn however the needs of the disabled person, now an adult, often remain.
Rebecca Chapman (Southwark) told members that getting enough support for her autistic son had been an limitless battle, scrapping away yr after yr. Of course her son was value every moment spent battling a faceless system, she said, but it surely mustn’t should be so hard. The Church was also not at all times welcoming of difference and disability, she continued. “Let’s not be a Church which stands and stares, but [one that] asks how it may well help.”
There were a handful of dissenting voices, including the Revd Chantal Noppen, who said that most of the same Christian charities fighting for the rights of disabled unborn children were concurrently hostile to the big numbers of LGBT+ people throughout the disabled community.
She accused a few of the speakers of judging moms who select abortion (lots of whom could be sitting in the identical chamber, she said), and for dismissing the identities of LGBT Christians not called to celibacy, and who didn’t fit into the Church’s presumptions about how they need to live.
Overall, nonetheless, there was a wave of support for the motion, which was ultimately carried 312-4, with no abstentions.
The full motion reads:
That this Synod, reaffirming its belief that one and all is exclusive and precious and made within the image of God, and endorsing section 6 of the Equality Act (2010):
(a) challenge the common assumption that bringing a disabled child into the world is a tragedy to be avoided;
(b) call upon healthcare providers and other public authorities to enhance the support they provide to the parents and families of kids born with disabilities;
(c) call upon His Majesty’s Government and healthcare providers to be sure that moms whose unborn child could also be disabled in any way are given comprehensive and unbiased information concerning the condition and support available to them;
(d) call upon dioceses, parishes and chaplaincies to contemplate how they may higher witness to the human dignity of disabled children, including the higher pastoral advice and support they may offer to their parents and families.
