CBS Says Down Syndrome Is Disappearing In Iceland, But Here’s What’s Really Happening

A CBS article reported Monday that the number of babies born in Iceland with Down syndrome is decreasing, when in actuality the country’s abortion rate for fetuses diagnosed with the genetic condition is 100 percent.

CBS touted the fact that few countries “have come as close to eradicating Down syndrome births as Iceland,” and reported that almost all women who receive a positive test for the disease abort their child. Icelandic abortion laws permit a woman to end her pregnancy after 16 weeks if the tests show that her baby will have a deformity. Iceland’s 1975 law also cites difficult social reasons, including giving birth in quick succession, poor living conditions, inability to care for a child, and “other reasons” as acceptable justification tolegally abort a baby after 16 weeks.

Since Iceland began prenatal testing in 2000, the government has mandated that all pregnant women be informed about screening for abnormalities — and while it does not require that women receive tests — almost all pregnant women do. The doctors administer a blood test and ultrasound in a Combination Test to determine the likelihood that the fetus will have a genetic disorder.

“Babies with Down syndrome are still being born in Iceland,” Hulda Hjartardottir, head of the Prenatal Diagnosis Unit at Landspitali University Hospital, told CBS News. “We try to do as neutral counseling as possible, but some people would say that just offering the test is pointing you towards a certain direction.”

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