For Pity's Sake I lodged once in the basement of
a house which was full of strange and pitiful noises—like the crying of an animal in constant pain. Within a few days I learned that behind a door at the end of the corridor lay a woman of twenty-four, the landlady's daughter, who had been born deformed and helpless, unable to move, to learn, to communicate, to understand. For twenty-four years my landlady, uncomplaining and devoted, had been bound to the care of this poor creature who in no meaningful sense could be called human. I have never forgotten this; and it was those terrible cries that I heard above the argu- ment on whether or not the parents of those children born hopelessly deformed as the result of thalidomide should be allowed to have them destroyed at birth. I am in no doubt myself that they should have this right and I am glad to see that the latest National Opinion Poll on the sub- ject shows a great majority in favour. Most people are now also in favour of abortion when it is clear that the child would be born badly deformed.
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