{"id":253990,"date":"2021-09-24T08:43:11","date_gmt":"2021-09-24T13:43:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=253990"},"modified":"2021-09-23T23:35:23","modified_gmt":"2021-09-24T04:35:23","slug":"woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/","title":{"rendered":"Woman with Down syndrome loses effort to end discriminatory abortions in UK"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/div>

Heidi Crowter, a young woman with Down syndrome, has suffered a devastating loss<\/a> in her fight to end eugenic abortions in the United Kingdom (UK). Crowter has been campaigning to change the UK’s discriminatory abortion law which allows abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy if the child has any disability<\/em> \u2014 even one as minor as a cleft lip. People with disabilities have long called for this exception to be overturned, and Crowter was given the chance to move forward with a “landmark challenge” against the law.<\/p>\n

Crowter, along with M\u00e1ire Lea-Wilson, representing her son Aidan, sued Sajid Javid and took the Department of Health and Social Care to court, arguing that allowing eugenic abortions is discriminatory, and violates the European Convention on Human Rights.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe current law is unfair. It makes me feel like I shouldn\u2019t exist, and that I\u2019d be better off dead in the eyes of the law,\u201d Crowter previously told<\/a> the Sunday Telegraph. \u201cThe policy basically says that it\u2019s normal for a baby with Down\u2019s syndrome to be terminated right up until birth. The reason why this is important to me is because I have Down\u2019s syndrome, I know what it is to have it, and my husband has it.\u201d<\/p>\n

In their filing, the three argued that the law has \u201cperpetuated a social environment where people with disabilities are discriminated against after birth,\u201d and sent a message that people like Crowter and Aidan \u201care not wanted and are not valued as much as normal people.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sadly, Judges Rabinder Singh and Nathalie Lieven disagreed, and dismissed the case after a two-day hearing.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe evidence before the court powerfully shows that there will be some families who positively wish to have a child, even knowing that it will be born with severe disabilities,\u201d they said. \u201cBut the evidence is also clear that not every family will react in that way… [t]he evidence is also clear that, although scientific developments have improved and earlier identification may be feasible, there are still conditions which will only be identified late in a pregnancy, after 24 weeks.”<\/p>\n

Outside of the Royal Courts of Justice, Crowter said she plans to appeal<\/a>, and will not give up. She also disagreed with the judges claim that the law is not discriminatory, saying, \u201cThe judges might not think it discriminates against me, the government might not think it discriminates against me, but I\u2019m telling you that I do feel discriminated against and the verdict doesn\u2019t change how I and thousands in the Down\u2019s syndrome community feel.\u201d<\/p>\n

Lea-Wilson also spoke about the message the ruling sends outside of the courthouse.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday\u2019s high court judgment effectively says that my two sons are not viewed as equals in the eyes of the law,” she said. “People with Down\u2019s syndrome face discrimination in all aspects of life, with the Covid pandemic really shining a light on the dangerous and deadly consequences this can have.\u201d<\/p>\n

Crowter concluded by comparing her fight against eugenic abortion to William Wilberforce’s fight against slavery. “The fight is not over,” she said. \u201cWe face discrimination every day in schools, in the workplace and in society. Thanks to the verdict, the judges have upheld discrimination in the womb too… [W]hen the going got tough, he kept going, and I\u2019m going to do the same, because I want to succeed in changing the law to stop babies like me being aborted up to birth, because it\u2019s downright discrimination. I\u2019m not giving up, let\u2019s do this.\u201d<\/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":"

Heidi Crowter, a young woman with Down syndrome, has suffered a devastating loss in her fight to end eugenic abortions in the United Kingdom (UK). Crowter has been campaigning to change the UK’s discriminatory abortion law which allows abortion after 24 weeks of pregnancy if the child has any disability \u2014 even one as minor […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":253991,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false},"categories":[7,5,3473],"tags":[10298,10299,10815,13054,13057,13056,13055,180,126,776,792],"yoast_head":"\nWoman with Down syndrome loses effort to end discriminatory abortions in UK<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Heidi Crowter, a young woman with Down syndrome, has suffered a devastating loss in her fight to end eugenic abortions in the United Kingdom\" \/>\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\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Woman with Down syndrome loses effort to end discriminatory abortions in UK\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Heidi Crowter, a young woman with Down syndrome, has suffered a devastating loss in her fight to end eugenic abortions in the United Kingdom\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Live Action News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2021-09-24T13:43:11+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-09-24T04:35:23+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/GettyImages-1235442986.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"683\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@liveaction\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Cassy Cooke\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Cassy Cooke\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392\"},\"headline\":\"Woman with Down syndrome loses effort to end discriminatory abortions in UK\",\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-24T13:43:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-24T04:35:23+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/\"},\"wordCount\":615,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"keywords\":[\"discriminatory abortions\",\"eugenic abortions\",\"Heidi Crowter\",\"Maire Lea-Wilson\",\"Nathalie Lieven\",\"Rabinder Singh\",\"royal courts of justice\",\"Slavery\",\"UK\",\"United Kingdom\",\"William Wilberforce\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Human Rights\",\"International\",\"Newsbreak\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/\",\"name\":\"Woman with Down syndrome loses effort to end discriminatory abortions in UK\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2021-09-24T13:43:11+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2021-09-24T04:35:23+00:00\",\"description\":\"Heidi Crowter, a young woman with Down syndrome, has suffered a devastating loss in her fight to end eugenic abortions in the United Kingdom\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Woman with Down syndrome loses effort to end discriminatory abortions in UK\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Live Action News\",\"description\":\"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\"},\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization\",\"name\":\"Live Action\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png\",\"width\":701,\"height\":710,\"caption\":\"Live Action\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/\"},\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction\",\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/\",\"https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/\",\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms\"]},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392\",\"name\":\"Cassy Cooke\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Cassy Cooke\"},\"description\":\"Cassy has over 20 years of experience as a writer and editor, most of which have been spent covering pro-life issues like abortion, disability rights, euthanasia, and more.\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/cassy-fiano\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Woman with Down syndrome loses effort to end discriminatory abortions in UK","description":"Heidi Crowter, a young woman with Down syndrome, has suffered a devastating loss in her fight to end eugenic abortions in the United Kingdom","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Woman with Down syndrome loses effort to end discriminatory abortions in UK","og_description":"Heidi Crowter, a young woman with Down syndrome, has suffered a devastating loss in her fight to end eugenic abortions in the United Kingdom","og_url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/","og_site_name":"Live Action News","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","article_published_time":"2021-09-24T13:43:11+00:00","article_modified_time":"2021-09-24T04:35:23+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1024,"height":683,"url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/09\/GettyImages-1235442986.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Cassy Cooke","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@liveaction","twitter_site":"@liveaction","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Cassy Cooke","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/"},"author":{"name":"Cassy Cooke","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392"},"headline":"Woman with Down syndrome loses effort to end discriminatory abortions in UK","datePublished":"2021-09-24T13:43:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-24T04:35:23+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/"},"wordCount":615,"publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"keywords":["discriminatory abortions","eugenic abortions","Heidi Crowter","Maire Lea-Wilson","Nathalie Lieven","Rabinder Singh","royal courts of justice","Slavery","UK","United Kingdom","William Wilberforce"],"articleSection":["Human Rights","International","Newsbreak"],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/","name":"Woman with Down syndrome loses effort to end discriminatory abortions in UK","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website"},"datePublished":"2021-09-24T13:43:11+00:00","dateModified":"2021-09-24T04:35:23+00:00","description":"Heidi Crowter, a young woman with Down syndrome, has suffered a devastating loss in her fight to end eugenic abortions in the United Kingdom","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/woman-down-syndrome-loses-discriminatory-abortions-uk\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Woman with Down syndrome loses effort to end discriminatory abortions in UK"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","name":"Live Action News","description":"Covering Human Rights, Abortion, & Pro-Life Issues","publisher":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization"},"potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Organization","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#organization","name":"Live Action","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/06\/Live-Action-Logo-Black.png","width":701,"height":710,"caption":"Live Action"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/logo\/image\/"},"sameAs":["https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/twitter.com\/liveaction","https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/liveactionorg\/","https:\/\/www.pinterest.com\/LiveActionFilms\/","https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/LiveActionFilms"]},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/16622da192101346f516b7444d125392","name":"Cassy Cooke","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8b602f8210f1a7d948ca1c0dcab11fad?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Cassy Cooke"},"description":"Cassy has over 20 years of experience as a writer and editor, most of which have been spent covering pro-life issues like abortion, disability rights, euthanasia, and more.","url":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/author\/cassy-fiano\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253990"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253990"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253990\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":254012,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253990\/revisions\/254012"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253991"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253990"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253990"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253990"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}