A British hospital botched a “selective reduction” abortion in 2019, mistakenly killing the healthy twin instead of the ailing sibling, a new report revealed.
The Sun reports both unborn babies died after the botched abortion at the Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Foundation Trust in England.
Doctors advised the mother to undergo a “selective” abortion after noticing that one of her twins was not growing properly, according to the report.
Selective reduction abortions are a disturbing practice in which one or more of multiple unborn babies are killed in an abortion while the others are spared. Sometimes selective reduction abortions are recommended for medical reasons, the idea being to abort one child to save the other; but other times, they are done because the parents want only one child or want a child with certain characteristics.
In the 2019 case, the mother was told that the abortion could help reduce the risk of stillbirth and help the healthier baby to thrive. However, a doctor mistakenly aborted the healthier twin and both babies died, the report states.
Their deaths were included in a new Freedom of Information Act report listing approximately 700 deaths due to medical errors in England.
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According to The Express, the report also included the death of another unborn baby connected to a delayed heart scan at the Princess Alexandra Hospital Trust in Harlow, Essex.
Dr. Fiona Reynolds, chief medical officer at Birmingham Women’s and Children’s NHS Trust, expressed sadness at their “fatal error” in the twins’ deaths. Reynolds said the hospital conducted an investigation and apologized to the family.
“The outcome of that thorough review has led to a new protocol being developed to decrease the likelihood of such an incident happening again,” she said.
LifeNews.com has reported about other tragic cases in which the “wrong” twin was killed in a selective abortion, including one in Victoria, Australia in 2011.
A Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists spokesman acknowledged that selective abortions carry deadly risks.
“In the most serious cases, selective termination can improve the survival chances of the normally grown fetus at the expense of the severely growth-restricted co-twin,” the spokesman said. “However, all such procedures can carry an increased risk of early or total pregnancy loss.”
In England, at least 55 unborn babies were aborted in selective reduction abortions during the first half of 2020, according to Right to Life UK. Additionally, in 2019, there were 126 selective reduction abortions, a 75-percent increase from 2011 when there were 72. The government recently published the data in response to a parliamentary question that Labour MP Mary Glindon asked the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.
The increase in the number of selective reduction abortions has been linked to an increase in pregnancies through in vitro fertilization (IVF), in which the conception of twins or triplets is more likely.
Many mothers reject their doctors’ advice to selectively abort some of their unborn babies because they recognize that all of their babies’ lives are valuable.
