Researchers claimed in the Journal of Medical Ethics that if a baby is born with a disability that was not previously detected, or if a mother is unwilling to care for the infant, it should be legal to kill the baby in a procedure called ‘after-birth abortion’. They argued that if a condition that justified abortion is only discovered after the baby’s birth then the same rule to kill the child, after birth, should apply. ‘New mums’ should be allowed to ‘abort both healthy and disabled babies once outside the womb in a quick and painless act’. They added, ‘Such circumstances include cases where the newborn has the potential to have an acceptable life, but the well-being of the family is at risk.’ These views received much criticism. In defence the journal’s editor said that similar arguments appear in academic literature by the most eminent philosophers and bioethicists in the world.