{"id":288067,"date":"2023-03-29T18:43:18","date_gmt":"2023-03-29T23:43:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.liveaction.org\/news\/?p=288067"},"modified":"2023-03-28T16:15:35","modified_gmt":"2023-03-28T21:15:35","slug":"down-syndrome-scheduled-abortion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.liveaction.org\/news\/down-syndrome-scheduled-abortion\/","title":{"rendered":"Mom says docs scheduled abortion without her consent because of son’s Down syndrome"},"content":{"rendered":"
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A mother of a child with Down syndrome is speaking out after doctors repeatedly pressured her to have an abortion \u2014 even going so far as to schedule one for her without<\/em> her consent.<\/p>\n

Natalie O’Rourke spoke with the Sunday Times<\/a>\u00a0and appeared on ITV’s This Morning for World Down Syndrome Day, and told presenters<\/a> Holly Willoughby and Phillip Scofield how doctors assumed her son’s life was worthless before he was even born. Her pregnancy was a surprise, and at first, she didn’t know how far along she was until she had an ultrasound \u2014 and immediately, she was flooded with negativity.<\/p>\n

O’Rourke already had an eight-month-old daughter and lived in a small home with her husband, Dickie. But at her dating ultrasound, she was told something was wrong, and without being given more information, was fast-tracked for an appointment the same day at Queen Charlotte\u2019s & Chelsea Hospital. There, she was told her baby likely had Down syndrome; doctors told her to undergo chorionic villus sampling (CVS), where cells are withdrawn from the placenta.<\/p>\n

\u201cDickie said, \u2018If it\u2019s positive, I guess we\u2019ve got a few weeks to decide if we want an abortion,'” she recalled. “And the doctor replied, \u2018No, if the baby has a disability like Down\u2019s, abortion is legal right up to birth.\u2019”<\/p>\n

She was so angry, she left the room. \u201cIt sickened me,” she said. “The implication was that this baby was of so little value, it may as well be dead. My overwhelming feeling was of protection. I knew if I wanted to keep it I would have to fight, because the message was clear \u2014 if the baby is damaged, different, faulty, it isn\u2019t valued. So why would you have it and how could you love it?\u201d<\/p>\n

Later, she received a phone call confirming that her son had Down syndrome; moments later, the phone rang again. It was a local MSI Reproductive Choices facility, informing her that she had an abortion scheduled for the next day. When she told them to cancel the appointment, the nurse refused.<\/p>\n

“I wasn\u2019t surprised the baby had Down\u2019s syndrome \u2014 I kind of knew,\u201d she said. \u201cThe real shocker was that I was suddenly on this pathway to a termination. No one seemed to consider that I might want it to live.\u201d<\/p>\n

Her husband, meanwhile, also wanted her to have an abortion. But O’Rourke refused still. “I just knew that as soon as he was born, we would love him,” she said, adding, “I knew that Dickie would be an amazing dad \u2014 and he is. But getting to that point was a massive fight.\u201d<\/p>\n