Woman with Down syndrome challenges UK’s ‘discriminatory’ abortion law

Allowing abortion up to birth if the unborn child has Down syndrome is discriminatory and stigmatises disabled people, the UK high court has heard.

Heidi Crowter, a 26-year-old woman with Down syndrome, and Máire Lea-Wilson, 33, and her son Aidan, who has Down syndrome, are challenging Health Secretary Sajid Javid over the Abortion Act 1967. The act sets a 24-week time limit for abortions unless there is “substantial risk” of the child being “seriously handicapped”, which includes conditions such as Down syndrome, cleft palate and club foot.

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), including the decision to become or not to become a parent and “rights to dignity, autonomy and personal development of all three claimants”.

Actress Sally Philips (of Bridget Jones’s Diary fame) was also present outside the court to show her support for the case. Ms Philips, whose son Olly has Down syndrome, presented the remarkable and highly acclaimed documentary on BBC a few years back called “A World Without Down’s Syndrome?”