{"id":245974,"date":"2021-06-01T11:43:33","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T16:43:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=245974"},"modified":"2021-05-31T15:58:26","modified_gmt":"2021-05-31T20:58:26","slug":"down-syndrome-uk-eugenic-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/down-syndrome-uk-eugenic-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Women impacted by Down syndrome take on UK’s eugenic abortion law"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

The United Kingdom’s abortion laws are being challenged before the high court by two women: one who has a son with Down syndrome, and one who has Down syndrome herself.<\/p>\n

Heidi Crowter, a pro-life campaigner with Down syndrome, was interviewed by the BBC<\/a> in February 2020, where she described how the country\u2019s abortion laws for those with her condition made her feel \u201cunloved and unwanted.\u201d M\u00e1ire Lea-Wilson, a 33-year-old accountant whose second son Aidan was born with Down syndrome, was watching, and decided she could not simply sit by.<\/p>\n

The law in question is the disability clause of the Abortion Act of 1967<\/a>, which permits abortion through 24 weeks. However, \u201cthere is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped,\u201d an abortion can be committed up to birth. Down syndrome, a condition caused by an extra chromosome, is included under this provision as a \u201cserious handicap\u201d even though people with Down syndrome live longer, healthier, fuller lives than ever before due to medical advances. In the UK, around 90% of preborn babies diagnosed with Down syndrome are aborted, according to Right to Life UK<\/a>.<\/p>\n

READ: Down syndrome campaigner Heidi Crowter: \u2018I\u2019m not a devastating diagnosis or a crisis pregnancy\u2019<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

Lea-Wilson will appear<\/a> alongside Crowter before the country\u2019s High Court on July 6, 2021, but her advocacy began on February 27, 2020 \u2014 three days after she watched Crowter\u2019s BBC interview \u2014 when she wrote an open letter<\/a> to Britain\u2019s Health Secretary, Matt Hancock. In her letter, Lea-Wilson took issue with the fact that the phrase \u201cserious disability\u201d has not been \u201cdefined by the law and has been interpreted to include Down\u2019s Syndrome.\u201d Lea-Wilson referenced Heidi Crowter\u2019s advocacy, and the injustice of the law\u2019s discrimination against babies with Down syndrome.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou say abortion is a matter of moral conscience and not for the government to decide; but that\u2019s not true, is it? It is no longer a matter of moral conscience once unborn babies without disabilities have reached 24 weeks and that is legislated for,\u201d Lea-Wilson said. \u201cIn both of my pregnancies, my right to choose was enshrined within the law; but for my eldest, that right to choose only lasted until I was 24 weeks pregnant.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lea-Wilson\u2019s sense of the law\u2019s injustice was deeply personal. She had received the Down syndrome diagnosis for her son Aidan when she was 34 weeks pregnant. \u201cSuddenly the way I was treated changed from an excited parent expecting a second child, to a woman facing a great tragedy who had to make a \u2018choice\u2019 \u2014 to abort my pregnancy or not,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have two sons who I love and value equally, so I cannot understand why the law does not value them equally,\u201d she said, according to the Catholic News Agency<\/a>. \u201cAs their mother, I can tell you I value them equally; but it appears that the law does not. The reason for this is that one of them has Down\u2019s Syndrome, and the other does not.\u201d<\/p>\n

In December, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists released revised guidelines<\/a> directing medical professionals to avoid pressuring women into abortion.<\/p>\n

\u201cLike\u201d Live Action News on Facebook<\/a>\u00a0for more pro-life news and commentary!<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The United Kingdom’s abortion laws are being challenged before the high court by two women: one who has a son with Down syndrome, and one who has Down syndrome herself. Heidi Crowter, a pro-life campaigner with Down syndrome, was interviewed by the BBC in February 2020, where she described how the country\u2019s abortion laws for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":606,"featured_media":246220,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[5,3473],"tags":[],"yoast_head":"\nWomen impacted by Down syndrome take on UK's eugenic abortion law<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Down syndrome mom M\u00e1ire Lea-Wilson is taking on the United Kingdom's discriminatory law after being inspired by Down syndrome self-advocate Heidi Crowter.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/down-syndrome-uk-eugenic-abortion\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta 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