Woman with Down’s vows appeal over abortion law
A WOMAN with Down’s syndrome has vowed to continue her legal battle over abortion laws after judges ruled mothers should be able to terminate babies with the condition up until birth.
Heidi Crowter took on the Department of Health and Social Care in a bid to remove an ‘instance of inequality’ in the Abortion Act.
The 26-year-old has been fighting alongside Maire Lea-Wilson, 33, an accountant and mother-of-two from west London, whose son Aidan has Down’s syndrome, and a child with Down’s syndrome, identified only as A.
In England, Wales and Scotland, there is a 24-week time limit on abortions. But terminations can be allowed up until birth if there is ‘a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped’. This includes Down’s.
In July, lawyers for the trio argued the law is discriminatory and incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. But two High Court judges yesterday ruled the legislation is not unlawful and aims to strike a balance between the rights of the unborn child and of women.
Ms Crowter, of Coventry, who lives independently and recently married, plans to go to the Court of Appeal. She said: ‘We face discrimination every day in schools, in the workplace and in society. And now the judges have upheld discrimination in the womb too.’
Ms Lea-Wilson said the ruling ‘condones discrimination’ by cementing the belief that the lives of those with Down’s are less valuable than others.