DOCTORS who killed a foetus afflicted with Down's syndrome to save the life of its healthy twin have been denounced as "morally irresponsibleby prohie leaders in the United States.
The doctors killed the foetus after the mother threatened to have both twins aborted. They inserted a needle into the foetus heart and withdrew half its blood.
Fr Edward Bryce, director of the US bishops' Office for ProLife Activities, commented: "This procedure highlights the ambivalence of technical progress in our society." He noted that a few weeks earlier there had been reports of a new treatment for hydrocephaly in which a needle was inserted into a mother's womb to drain off excess fluid from her unborn child's skull.