Pro-lifers have expressed dismay following reports that nearly all babies with Down’s syndrome are being aborted in Iceland. Only one or two people, on average, are born with Down’s syndrome in the country each year, according to a report by America’s CBS News network. Kari Stefansson, the founder of a genetic group named deCODE Genetics, which looks at the genomes of Icelanders, told the network: “We have basically eradicated, almost, Down’s syndrome from our society.” The American actress Patricia Heaton tweeted in response to the story: “Iceland isn’t actually eliminating Down syndrome. They’re just killing everybody that has it. Big difference.” Nearly 100 per cent of women in Iceland choose abortion following a positive prenatal test for Down’s syndrome. Other countries, according to CBS, “aren’t lagging too far behind”. “The United States has an estimated [abortion] rate for Down syndrome of 67 per cent (1995-2011); in France it is 77 per cent (2015); and Denmark, 98 per cent (2015),” it said. The figures relate to the proportion of babies aborted after a positive prenatal test for the syndrome. Prenatal testing is not compulsory in Iceland, but the option is presented to all women using healthcare services. Hulda Hjartardottir, head of the Prenatal Diagnosis Unit and Landspitali University Hospital in Iceland, said: “We try to do as neutral counselling as possible, but some people would say that just offering the test is pointing you towards a certain direction”.