Those with conditions that can usually be corrected medically - such as deformed feet and cleft lip - are instead being terminated.

The number of abortions in England of Down's Syndrome babies now outstrips those who are born alive, despite the fact that those with DS can live long, happy, and fulfilling lives.

"These figures are symptomatic of a eugenic trend of the consumerist society hell-bent on obliterating deformity - and at what cost to its own humanity?" asked ethicist Jacqueline Laing, of London Metropolitan University.

"We are obliterating the willingness of people to accept disability. Babies are required to fit a description of normality before they are allowed to be born."

"This is straightforward eugenics. The message is being sent out to disabled people that they should not have been born. It is appalling and abhorrent," said Nuala Scarisbrick.

"Such statistics are an indictment of a society which places a conditional value upon its citizens, based upon how 'useful' they may prove to be in later life," notes Patrick Cusworth.

[6May04, Daily Mail; Drudge Report]

Presently (2009) about 3 Down babies are aborted per day in Britain.