YES, I would like to attend the “Loving Every Child: Defying

Eugenics” seminar on 4th August 2012

Name:

Address:

Phone:

Email: We ask you to consider a donation of $20 to help cover the costs. Tea, coffee and a light lunch will be served.

RSVP by 12th July 2012 by email to brendanr.fli@xtra.co.nz Phone us on 09 629 4361 or you can return this form to: Family Life International NZ, P O Box 27967 Mt Roskill Auckland 1440.

1. Those with Down syndrome and other conditions are defined by their basic human dignity and not by their genetic makeup. They are loved and valued members of our families and communities and

make positive contributions to our society.

2. Down syndrome is a naturally occurring chromosomal

arrangement that has always been a part of the human condition.

3. In a recent Children’s Hospital Boston survey 99% of parents of children with Down syndrome reported that they loved their child, 97% were proud of their child, and 79% attributed a more positive

outlook on life to their child.

4. For every 100 women who screen at high risk for Down syndrome, RANZCOG state that only between four and six of them

will be carrying a baby with Down syndrome.

5. The screening pathway is non-therapeutic. Diagnostic testing caus-es miscarriage and morbidity. Thus it is more harmful than benefi-

cial to a mother’s unborn child.

6. The screening pathway leads to maternal anxiety and foetal hazard. Interrupting the pregnancy has adverse mental health out-

comes for the mother.

7. There is no evidence that babies with Down syndrome can have a better medical outcome due to screening and testing. Medical problems associated with Down syndrome can be detected by

routine antenatal clinical care without a diagnosis.

8. It costs around $70,000 to detect an unborn child with Down

syndrome.

9. Before the 2010 quality improvements around 55% of all babies with Down syndrome were not born due to antenatal screening and intervention. When Denmark introduced the same “quality improve-ments” the impact was a further halving in births of children with Down syndrome. A similar trend here would result in around 80% of all births of children with Down syndrome being

prevented. Many people recognise that this is eugenics.

10. The New Zealand Down Syndrome Association does not consider

Down syndrome in itself a reason for termination of a pregnancy.

11. People with Down syndrome and other conditions and their families are best placed to provide parents with a diagnosis with

accurate information and knowledge based on direct experience.

11 Facts for Midwives, GPs and Parents to Know

4th August 2012 9.30am– 5.00pm Saint Columba Centre 40 Vermont Street Ponsonby Auckland

Loving Every Child: Defying Eugenics

A bout the venue

Saint Columba Centre is situated in the heart of Ponsonby, Auckland. For more information about the centre you can visit their website on www.saintcolumba.org.nz. There is a huge choice of accommodation in central Auckland (approximately five minute drive away) or at Takapuna (10 minute drive away).

There is ample free parking at the centre—the driveway and parking access is the two driveways prior to 40 Vermont St.

Registration

Saint Columba Centre 40 Vermont St Ponsonby Auckland

NB. This map is not drawn to scale and only gives an indication of where the Centre is. It

does not show all streets.

9:30am Registration

10:00am Dr Gary Dennis

‘The Power of Story’

10:30am Rita Joseph ‘By What Right, are They Not Human Beings?’—the human rights case against eugenic birth prevention

11:30am Short break

11:40am Dr Deidre Little

‘Current Practice and How it Links with Eugenics’

12:40pm Lunch

1:10pm Mike Sullivan, SavingDowns ‘Advocating for Down syndrome in the Room and in the Womb’

2:10pm Podcasts by Janet Lord, BlueLaw International LLP Antenatal screening for Down syndrome and other conditions—the application of the Convention of the Rights of Persons with Disabilities

Dr Gregor Wolbring, Associate Professor, University of Calgary

Topics for the podcasts by his students include the history and future of eugenics and midwife care

2:40pm Colleen Bayer, Family Life International NZ

‘The Therese Programme’

3:10pm Diane Belcher, Spina Bifida New Zealand ‘Protecting and Loving our Investment—the Spina Bifida Perspective’

3:30pm Afternoon tea

3:50pm Dr Catherine Hallagan ‘Conscientious Objection for a Health Practitioner’—its legal status in NZ and its significance

4:20pm Wrap up session

5:00pm Finish

The disability community has witnessed with much concern the return of eugenics in New Zealand under the guise of prenatal health care, reproductive choice and human rights. In response to this Family Life International NZ and SavingDowns are holding a one-day seminar “Loving Every Child: Defying Eugenics”. This will be an opportunity to learn about the history of eugenics and its recent emergence into New Zealand society through birth prevention, which is being particularly targeted towards the Down syndrome community.

The seminar will be looking to raise awareness around the issue and to map out a response towards restoring respect and dignity towards the Down syndrome and wider disability communities.

P rogramme

Dr Catherine Hallagan BA MBChB Diploma of Obstetrics FRNZCGP Dr Hallagan is a General Practitioner in Wellington. She is a Director of a Group General Practice in Tawa that cares for nearly 10,000 patients. Dr Hallagan studied Anthropology at Victoria University and was awarded her BA and Medical Degrees from Auckland University. Dr Hallagan is Chair of the New Zealand Health Professionals

Alliance and a member of the Medical Association of NZ. She is married to Michael and they have two adult daughters. Dr Hallagan has had a long involvement in working to protect the unborn child and the right to conscientious objection for health practitioners.

Rita Joseph Rita Joseph is a Canberra-based writer and lecturer. She is author of “Human Rights and the Unborn Child” (Leiden & Boston, Martinus Nijhoff, 2009), the first full-length study of these rights. For more than three decades she has been researching, writing and lecturing on the philosophy of the language of human rights. A veteran human rights campaigner, she has been a frequent observer, adviser and participant at the UN.

Colleen Bayer Colleen Bayer founded Family Life International NZ 20 years ago to educate on life issues from conception to natural death and provide counselling and practical help to those facing a crisis pregnancy. Colleen has started various initiatives including the Therese Programme which advocates for and supports families who have had an adverse pre-natal diagnosis. Colleen is married to Terry and they have five children including three adopted children with special needs.

Dr Deirdre Little MBBS, DRANZCOG, FACRRM Dr Little is a General Practitioner Obstetrician. She is a Visiting Medical Officer in a rural NSW hospital, where she has provided intrapartum obstetric care for 27 years. She also works in a group medical practice with her husband, Don, and they have three children. Deirdre is the Bioethics Officer for the Catholic Women's League in N.S.W., and has had articles concerning prenatal testing published in the secular press and has spoken at various venues in Australia.

Mike Sullivan Mike Sullivan is the spokesman for SavingDowns, an advocacy group working to defy eugenics towards the Down syndrome and wider disability communities in New Zealand. He is married to Rae, and they have a 4 year old daughter (Rebecca) with the extra love chromosome. He is a self employed Chartered Professional Engineer with an honours degree in Civil Engineering from Auckland University. Mike has a deep commitment to honouring the dignity of life.

Dr Gary Dennis DC Best selling author Dr Gary Dennis is a motivational speaker who also has a daughter (Molly) with Down syndrome who he uses a lot in his presentations. He and his wife established Mentor7 in 2007 to bring high energy to the corporate body. He draws from his experience of owning the busiest chiropractic centre in Europe, sailing around the world, establishing clinics in four different countries and tackling pirates of the Arabian Gulf.

A bout this Seminar A

M eet the Speakers

Diane Belcher Diane Belcher founded the Spina Bifida Association of New Zealand in July 2010 after her son Daniel was born in 2009 and diagnosed with Spina Bifida at 20 weeks gestation. After Daniel's birth at Waikato Hospital she began to hear stories from other Waikato based families about their experience of prenatal diagnosis and her advocacy for babies diagnosed prenatally with disabilities began. Diane lives in Cambridge, and has three adult daughters.

Janet Lord, Adjunct Professor of Law Janet E. Lord is senior partner and director of human rights and inclusive development at BlueLaw International LLP. An expert in human rights treaty negotiations, she participated in all of the negotiations for the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, serving as legal advisor to several lead governments, expert to the UN and legal advocacy advisor to Disabled Peoples International.