Heidi Crowter poses with signs at a rally for campaign group ‘Don’t Screen Us Out’, London, United … [+]
A British woman with Down syndrome will take her campaign to limit abortions in disabled fetuses to Europe, after losing an appeal in the U.K.
Heidi Crowter, 27, argues her country’s existing law discriminates against disabled people and encourages negative attitudes towards disability.
She has been campaigning to change rules that allow termination at any time up to birth in England, Scotland and Wales if a fetus has certain abnormalities, including Down syndrome.
The general abortion limit is 24 weeks.
Crowter says she is taking her case to Europe after an unsuccessful legal battle in the U.K. Her efforts to change legislation have been rebuffed by the country’s High Court and its Court of Appeal, as the BBC notes.
The country’s Supreme Court has also said it will not hear Crowter’s case.
But, alongside her campaign group, ‘Don’t Screen Us Out,’ she says she will continue fighting laws that “single out babies with disabilities.”
Crowter has asked for permission to take her appeal to the European Court of Human Rights. If the court were to agree the U.K. law was discriminatory, her campaign group argued it could “set a legal precedent” for 46 European countries.
‘Valued equally after birth but not in the womb’
According to her campaign group, the number of abortions on the grounds of disability increased by 9% from 3,083 in 2020 to 3,370 in 2021. Some 274 of these took place at or beyond 24 weeks of pregnancy: a rise of 20% from the year before.
More than 850 fetuses with Down syndrome were aborted in the country in 2021, the group say.
“In 2023, we live in a society where disabled people are valued equally after birth but not in the womb,” Crowter said in a statement.
“Our law singles out babies with disabilities. It … sends a message to people like me with Down’s syndrome that we are less valuable than others. This is not true and it is not right.”
She added she had “a great life” and wanted every baby with Down Syndrome to have “the same chance to live and enjoy their life.”
Don’t Screen Us Out spokesperson Lynn Murray added: “The provision in the Abortion Act harks back to a time when we thought it was better for people with disabilities not to be part of our society.
We live in a far more inclusive and progressive society now, where we celebrate diversity, and all of our laws should reflect that.”
The idea of changing abortion law is controversial, but some disability campaign groups have supported previous efforts to amend it.
Back in 2017, Disability Rights UK suported a proposed bill to similarly amend the law. The ultimately unsuccessful bill was “not about the rights and wrongs of abortion,” then-chief executive officer Liz Sayce said in a statement. “fundamentally it is about equality.
“Wherever Parliament sets the number of weeks after which abortion is not permitted, it should be exactly the same whether the pregnancy is likely to result in a disabled or a non-disabled child. All lives are equal.”
Down syndrome, also commonly known as Down’s syndrome, is a genetic disorder that can cause developmental problems and mild to severe intellectual disability. It carries an increased risk of certain health conditions like leukemia, thyroid diseases and type one diabetes.