Church in the World

Schönborn condemns abortion ruling

Austria

The Austrian Supreme Court's verdict to grant compensation to the parents of a disabled seven-year-old, whose disability a doctor failed to spot while he was in the womb, will increase the pressure on women to have abortions, Cardinal Christoph Schönborn, president of the Austrian bishops' conference, has warned.

Cardinal Schönborn told the press that the court's decision to grant full and lifelong compensation to the parents was "unacceptable".

The parents said they would have had the foetus aborted if they had known it was physically disabled, and sued the state hospital in Klagenfurt, Carinthia, where the doctor worked, for damages.

The Minister of Health, Andrea Kdolsky, said that the parents had a right to compensation from the hospital for a "faulty diagnosis". The entire cost of raising the child, such as specialist care, will now be paid by the state and backdated. The boy, who is reportedly very bright, was born with meningomyelocele - a defect of the spine - hydrocephalus and club feet. He has had several operations and has to take medication. 

The court's decision would have "momentous" consequences, Cardinal Schönborn said. It would encourage "panic diagnoses" and increase the pressure on women to have abortions at the slightest risk of an abnormality.

He also said that the court's decision would support the already widespread opinion that brought into question handicapped people's right to live. The cardinal said the timing - the seventieth anniversary of Hitler's invasion of Austria - was "tragic", pointing out that shortly after the invasion thousands of disabled people in Austria were executed.

The Austrian bishops issued a joint declaration supporting the cardinal's position. Caritas Austria and organisations for the disabled have also voiced their support.