British Section of the World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life

"One of British medicine's most senior advisers on medical ethics has provoked outrage by claiming that infanticide is 'justifiable"', Elizabeth Day reported in the Sunday Telegraph, 25 Jan. 04. Professor John Harris, a member of the British Medical Association's ethics committee and of the Human Genetics Commission, a Professor of Bioethics at Manchester University and author of 15 books on the ethics of genetics, said "I don't think infanticide is always unjustifiable," during a debate in January which was part of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee's consultation on human reproductive technologies. He went on, with some reason, "I don't think it is plausible to think that there is any moral change that occurs during the journey down the birth canal."

Joanna Jepson commented "It is frightening to hear anyone endorsing infanticide, but it is shocking when the person is responsible for teaching others." Professor Harris previously attracted criticism when he praised the sale of organs by living donors, at a BMA conference (SPUC News, 4 Dec. 03).