Abortion law challenge - 24 weeks limit for Down's syndrome

[SecretThermalsAreTheBest]

Just read that there's a high court challenge to try and change the clause that currently allows abortion to be carried out after 24 weeks, up until birth when the foetus/baby has Down's Syndrome or another severe disability.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-56982646

The campaign would bring the abortion limit for all babies with non-fatal severe disabilities to the same 24 week time limit.

Just interested to know what people think about this?

Because sometimes a woman won't have the results of the screening tests until after the limit has passed.

Yes, that's why the law allows for abortions after 24 weeks. Because like other disabilities that aren't always picked up early on, DS is one. So the abortion laws should never change. Abortion should be available after 24 weeks.

In utero, foetuses with Downs Syndrome are foetuses. As are all other foetuses. The only person in question is the mother, who has the right to choose. Of course after birth those foetuses become babies, people, and of course babies with Downs Syndrome should have the same rights as other people. But people’s rights don’t apply to foetuses, and never should.

Woman, not mother. A woman who chooses not to continue a pregnancy is not a mother

That's up to the woman. A relative chose to terminate a second trimester pregnancy due to her baby (she used the word baby) having a disability. She considers herself a mother to that baby, not just her living children and her eldest child calls the baby a sister.

She can call herself whatever she likes, but you should never call women in general mothers when they have terminated a pregnancy. It's wrong and its offensive

I don't know what she calls other women who choose to terminate. Though I think it's just as offensive to say they are not mothers, that would be upsetting to those who see themselves as mothers. Use the term women yes, but don't say they are not mothers.

Well they are as they are pregnant. If they choose to terminate in the second trimester due to disabilities, it doesn't stop them being a mother. They still have to give birth. I'll still call them mothers.

I trust women to make their own decisions

Surely when you get pregnant, you expect to have a baby raise them into adulthood and then see them off into the wide world. You don't expect a lifelong caring commitment.

If a disability is diagnosed in pregnancy, but you do not give the woman a opportunity to abort, you are subjecting the woman (and let's be honest the majority of time the caring responsibilities fall onto the woman) to a lifelong caring commitment she may not be able to (or want to) fulfil.

Disability can come obviously later in the child's life (accident, later diagnosis etc) whereby you don't have a choice and have to step up to deal with it (I say this as a mother of a child with a disability) But that's a different situation and not comparable with TFMR.

It must be the woman's choice, always.