Should we ban late abortions for a cleft palate?

As some MPs say they should be stopped for babies beyond 24 weeks... YES

PrOPOSED legislation to ban latestage terminations for minor disabilities is close to my heart, because my daughter, whom I adopted when she was four months old, was born with a cleft palate.

You might assume since I turned to adoption to become a mother that I’m against terminations. I’m not. I support the right of any woman to abort and I am proudly pro-choice.

But when it comes to an abortion for a cleft, I wonder if decisions are taken because of a misguided idea about what raising a child with this condition is really like.

If you contest this bill, perhaps you think the challenges a parent may face are insurmountable.

I’d like to put forward a different experience, and tell you about the happiness our daughter has brought us, which far outweighs any challenge presented by her cleft palate.

Let’s start with the hard part. Feeding my child — first by passing a tube through her nose to her stomach, and later by using specialist nursing bottles with minor adaptations — was stressful.

We cried, both with worry that we were failing, and joy when we found a method that worked. Weaning was messy too, and most of her soft food came out through her nose. I’m convinced she still hates butternut squash for this very reason.

After becoming skilled at feeding we had to face the need for surgery. Fear gripped us while we waited, wondering whether it would be a success, and the 12 hours that followed, walking up and down a ward bouncing my daughter in my arms to ease her discomfort, were exhausting. not being able to give her a dummy was excruciating. But the following day she awoke desperate for food and by day two she was playing with toys, almost as if nothing had happened.

These moments were all tough, challenging and unforgettable for the wrong reasons. But in what version of motherhood do we not face challenges? When the current abortion laws were last assessed, specialist feeding devices were limited and the surgical options for repair less advanced than they are today.

Things have changed, and so have attitudes towards such conditions. My daughter is a happy, smart, brave little warrior, who brings us, and others, so much joy. We no longer have to make allowances in daily life for her previously cleft palate.

I never had to face the decision of terminating a pregnancy, and I’m not sharing this story with the intent to pressure any woman who is.

But I do believe that if I’d been faced with that choice, and chose to continue with the pregnancy, it would undoubtedly have been the right one.

‘ Medicine has advanced since the law was made ’