Top experts tells BBC that 'fatal foetal abnormality' not a medical diagnosis

Professor Jim Dornan, one of the most well-known Obstetricians in the country has told the BBC that the term ‘fatal foetal abnormality’ is not a medical term and is not to be found in any medical textbook.   WATCH his powerful contribution here:

Prof Dornan: “I want to make it very clear, that in our submission, the Royal College [of Obstetrics and Gynaecology’s] submission to yourself Mr Ford [the then Justice Minister], Section 16, we made it very clear that we were not happy with the term ‘fatal foetal abnormality’ . It’s in no textbook that I know of.  No doctor knows exactly when a foetus is going to die.”   

Presenter: So you refer to a fetal abnormality?   Prof Dornan: “Absolutely, and of course we’re all fatal. I mean a life of a few minutes can be as perfect as a life of sixty years”. His statement, and the work of parents in Every Life Counts to have these misleading and discriminatory terms discontinued, has also been bolstered by the revelation that the Irish Chief Medical Officer told Minister Simon Harris that abortion legislation using that term was unworkable because a doctor did not know how long a baby would live after birth.