Mum of baby with Down's syndrome suing government over abortion law

[SharonasCorona]

The mother of a baby with Down's syndrome is suing the government for allowing disabled children to be aborted after 24 weeks of pregnancy.

After 24 weeks a woman can have an abortion if she is at risk of grave physical and mental injury, or there is a severe foetal abnormality, including Down's syndrome.

Maire Lea-Wilson says she was encouraged in hospital to abort her son, who is now 11 months old. She felt the assumption was "that you would want to abort a child with Down's syndrome".

I’m in pro-choice, but I didn’t realise you could abort disabled children until birth. It’s shocking that a woman with a healthy baby with Down’s Syndrome was encouraged to have an abortion, right up until she carried the baby full term.

@zscaler the thread title was a copy and paste of the article. Given majority of my posts have been about the pressure, not the lawsuit, yes, I’m serious.

I'm of the view that it is a woman's body to do with what she wishes.

I might wish that many women would make different choices, but on this, my wish should be defeated.

If a woman feels she cannot go ahead with a pregnancy, she should not be forced to. That is basic.

I struggle with this. As a parent of a baby with DS. (Low risk, no additional tests offered, nothing picked up at scans, birth diagnosis)
Obviously we love our baby but I do feel that the choice aspect was taken away from us. DS cannot be blanketed as 'mild' or 'severe' every person is an individual. After being faced with the realities of DS,(actually we are quite lucky in the scheme of things) I cannot support the lawsuit.

In a parallel universe, I do not know what we would have done had we found out at 12 weeks, 20 weeks or later but options and choices need to be available for everyone.

Very difficult and emotive situation for all involved.

@Comingoutontop123 read my post of 15.26.

I just don’t see how we can possibly discuss this situation without discussing the law suit. That is the action this woman has decided to take - what is there to discuss if not that? It’s not like she’s simultaneously campaigning for a change in approach to women carrying foetuses with Down’s syndrome or something else you could maybe support instead.

If you are her, or claiming you know her and have information that isn't included in articles, you should be honest about that.

Er, no. You can ask MN.

It's ridiculous that she feels like she can have a say in what another woman would feel if they were told their child would have DS, and have a say in wether they chose to carry on the pregnancy.

Thanks to those who have corrected me - I do not know anyone personally that has downs, it's because all I see of individuals with Down's syndrome are portrayed as living normal with no hard physical struggle mainly yes on tv and videos on the internet - and it's what I read that it's mostly mild to moderate so it was an ignorant view from my perception.

@zscaler I get your point, I’ve responsed, not sure what else I can say.

"I also really worry that when he's older if this law is still in place, how will that make him feel: that he's not as valuable, that he doesn't have equal worth?"

So because she is worried about how her DS will feel as an adult, she would try to have a law passed which means women can't make their own decisions when it comes to their own bodies, and lives in the future?

I was a single mother when I was pregnant with my first child. I was 18 when j have birth. What if there was a law passed that single women weren't allowed to abort a foetus, incase it offended single mothers or children without fathers? Absolutely ridiculous!

As someone whose quite pro life I would disagree with the abortion being allowed to go through.

I can believe that repeatedly being “reminded” that you can terminate your child due to them having Down syndrome would start to make you feel pressured and worried you were making the wrong choice by continuing your pregnancy.
I have a child with Down syndrome and am currently pregnant with DC2, I was asked around 4/5 times within a 15 minute appointment if I was sure I definitely didn’t want the screening test for Down syndrome. I was also made to initial my notes so they had proof I’d declined the screening, I hadn’t had to do that with DC1 when I declined the screening tests! I’m pretty thick skinned and let most things go over my head but this really annoyed me and for some people this would have made them feel pressured to have a screening test they had already researched and decided against!
Yes, women should absolutely be made aware of the options available to them but once a decision has been made there is no need for them to be continually “reminded” of those options

I'm in NI and I felt under pressure to have a termination when the 20 week scan revealed anomalies. From support groups I know lots of people in NI have felt the same too - I was made to feel that there was something wrong with me for wanting to continue with the pregnancy. When I gave birth lots of medical staff (who were never involved in my pregnancy) came to visit me to tell me that I was so amazing

Abortion is a highly emotive issue, I do wonder why it's socially acceptable to switch off life support or withdraw treatment of a child who is born but not to terminate the life of an unborn baby.

@belfasteast Switching off life support is passive. Abortion is an active action that kills the unborn child. I believe life support is switched off when there's no chance of recovery? Abortion takes away the life of a person who could have existed.

OP, you are highly disengenous. You claim you don't support the lawsuit but you support the mother bringing the lawsuit. That makes no sense. If you think a lawsuit to force all women to carry a DS foetus to full term is a terrible idea then you do not support this mother at all.

Her reaction is intolerably selfish, seeking to force, by law, her opinion on other women because, she claims, she was 'encouraged' to take an action she plainly didn't take. She can seek to 'encourage' other women all she likes. But to force them - no. After all, no one forced her to have an abortion so her actions are both selfish and hypocritical.

The fact you support this woman makes me question whether you are, as you claim, pro-choice.

Lots have severe struggles in life heart problems etc. I'd abort. Personal choice.

Your thread and your arguments are a mess. It was originally that she'd been encouraged/pressured to abort right up until full term, claiming the Mother had 'known from the beginning' when the only evidence you provided (or any media has) was that this was suggested as an option at 34 weeks when DS was confirmed.

You've also suggested it may be a plan by the NHS to lessen impact on resources by wanting no DS children to be born (wild and offensive claim).

Yet you say you're pro choice? And you don't support the lawsuit? While saying you did early in the thread?

she is being unreasonable to deny other women a choice she had.

It is UPSETTING for her, we all understand that. But she should crack on with mothering her own child/ren

As always with this kind of story, you only get one side of it, the medical staff are not allowed to discuss what actually happened. I don’t give these kind of stories a second thought, you’ll never know the truth of the situation.

@janet38373 lots of lives of children are terminated by withdrawing nutrition, which is an active process that can take weeks. They aren't necessarily not getting better and they may not even be on life support, but their future might not be considered 'quality of life' and parents can be given that choice. I'm not saying I agree/disagree with either, but on a human rights basis this is actually perhaps worse than terminating the life of an unborn child at 39 weeks.

She was allowed to do what she wanted, but wants to limit the rights of other women. This has nothing whatsoever to do with her not liking people suggesting she could have an abortion if she wants and feeling pressured to do it, and everything to do with her not wanting anyone to be allowed an abortion after 24 weeks.

DDs 20 week scan revealed excess fluid on the brain. The doctor mentioned termination as an option. Before I was pregnant with DD I always had the view that if I found out that there was likely to be a problem with the baby I would terminate. Having got through 20 weeks and suffering 2 previous miscarriages and losing DDs twin I couldn't do it.

DD was born with a genetic condition which has resulted in delayed emotional development and problems with some of her cognitive skills.

I do not regret my decision for a minute but would never presume to limit someone else's choice to terminate.

I worry terribly what would happen to DD if I wasn't around. She is a lovely girl and gives so much joy but she is also very easily led and would struggle to cope on her own.

I don't think anyone easily decides to have an abortion after 24 weeks. DD was born at 28 weeks and there were two babies in the NICU with her who had been born at 24 weeks.

The mother must suffer trauma aborting at that stage but, having known someone who had a profoundly disabled child which led to the breakdown of her marriage and her eventual early death from kidney failure caused by alcohol which she turned to when her child died at the age of 19 because of his condition, it should always be her choice to make.

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion but forcing a mother to give birth to a child which she then may struggle to cope with is inhumane, both for the mother and the child.

If there was more support for such families then things would be different.

She's in the wrong there. Sue the hospital if she had a bad experience. With this she's just punishing women and taking away their right to choose. 24 weeks may sound late but I could see how t can happen. The nhs can be very slow with scans and results etc

If the same woman hadn't been given the advice that she could terminate right up to birth would she be suing about that ? I think she would be.So people just love 15 minutes !

@feellikeanalien that's such a sad story. This is my concern and why I've paid for harmony test to try to find out as early as possible if something is wrong. Although I might be able to cope with the care of a disabled child I worry what would happen to them when I die.