[Content notice for pregnancy and termination]
A recent high court case appeal for available termination dates for disabled pregnancies to be equalised has been lost. Guardian report about the case
Don't Screen Us Out campaign has highlighted that when a disabled pregnancy is confirmed, it may be terminated any time til birth - while other pregnancies have a much earlier cut off date.
This campaign has platformed Heidi's campaigning strongly, a young learning disabled woman. Heidi had raised a lot of awareness about the real lives of people of all ages with Downs Syndrome, to counteract the deep prejudice society holds. We congratulate Heidi for this powerful activism.
Testing for Downs Syndrome and Spina Bifida in pregnancy has become standardised in the UK. This does leads to discrimination: in available termination dates; against disabled parents and parents to be; and against people who are expected to birth a child with impairment/s.
The Coalition thinks that challenging abortion law is not the best way forward, as this could undermine rights. Genetic screening, and how things proceed following diagnosis, are the key discriminations here.
The Coalition thinks there are other ways to move towards reducing or removing this discrimination and we are working on a position statement on reproductive rights that we hope to release soon.
The Coalition hopes our position statement will speak strongly for the rights of women and others who are pregnant, for disabled parents and parents to be, and for people who are expected to birth a child with impairment/s.
If any members wish to input into it, please get in touch with us at exec@gmcdp.com. We will be sharing a draft with members who are interested soon.
