{"id":233172,"date":"2020-10-21T11:35:01","date_gmt":"2020-10-21T16:35:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=233172"},"modified":"2020-10-20T15:09:49","modified_gmt":"2020-10-20T20:09:49","slug":"woman-down-syndrome-uk-better-dead","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-uk-better-dead\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman with Down syndrome: UK law says people like me are ‘better off dead’"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A young woman with Down syndrome is campaigning to change discriminatory abortion laws in the United Kingdom, and has just gotten the chance to move ahead with what is being called a “landmark challenge” against the law.<\/p>\n

In the United Kingdom, abortion is illegal after 24 weeks of pregnancy \u2014\u00a0unless the child has any disability, even one as minor as a cleft lip. People with disabilities have spoken out against this exception, which they believe is discriminatory against people like them, and which encourages negative attitudes and stereotypes towards people with disabilities. This has led to a 90% abortion rate<\/a> for babies diagnosed prenatally with Down syndrome. According to Don’t Screen Us Out<\/a>, a Down syndrome advocacy group, over half of these abortions take place after 24 weeks.<\/p>\n

Heidi Crowter, a young woman with Down syndrome, sued the United Kingdom government earlier this year<\/a>, in partnership with a mother of a child with Down syndrome. Crowter also got married this summer<\/a>, in a live-streamed ceremony that was seen by over 35,000 people. But recently, she also had another major success.<\/p>\n