Pro-life organisation Life has reacted with dismay to the suggestion by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists that active and intentional euthanasia may be a valid option for some disabled newborns.

Matthew O'Gorman, a spokesman for Life, said in Inspire Magazine, "It is extremely worrying to find that doctors are advocating using killing as a treatment option ... We fear if this proposal becomes a reality that many parents will find themselves under intolerable pressure to consent to the deliberate killing of their own children.

He added, "Real compassion means killing pain, not patients."

Earlier in the week, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children's disability rights group criticised college's suggestion of infanticide for disabled babies.

The college made the suggestion in its submission to a bioethical inquiry in which it said, "A very disabled child can mean a disabled family.