Woman With Down’s Syndrome Takes Sajid Javid To Court Over Abortion Law

 

Allowing pregnancy terminations up to birth if the foetus has Down’s syndrome is discriminatory and stigmatises disabled people, the excessive court has heard.

Heidi Crowter, a 26-year-old woman with Down’s syndrome from Coventry, Máire Lea-Wilson, 33, and her son Aidan, who has Down’s syndrome, who both live in Brentford, west London are challenging Sajid Javid over the Abortion Act 1967. The act sets a 24-week time restriction for abortions unless there is “substantial risk” of the child being “seriously handicapped”.

The three argue it is discriminatory, interferes with the right to respect for private life in article 8(1) of the European convention on human rights (ECHR), which include the decision to become or not to become a mum or dad and “rights to dignity, autonomy and personal improvement of all three claimants”.

Jason Coppel QC, representing the claimants, advised the high court in London on Tuesday that Crowter, who has her own flat, recently got married and has pursued studies up to NVQ level, “has been the subject of abuse due to the fact of her disability and believes that the existence of a regulation permitting abortion up to birth for babies with DS [Down’s syndrome] is a contributory cultural cause of this type of abuse”.

Aidan was diagnosed with Down’s syndrome at 35 weeks’ gestation in 2019 and his mom was repeatedly offered an abortion. “The pressure she was put under, the lack of assist offered to her, the guilt she was made to feel for not having undergone screening, the impression conveyed that via going ahead with the pregnancy she would be going against medical advice, the negativity about DS and the fear engendered about having a child with DS all conveyed the message to her that a life with DS was of no value,” stated Coppel.

The court heard Down’s syndrome was the single largest justification for late-term abortions justified below the Abortion Act 1967.