Heidi Crowter, who filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Social Care, stated that she was “very disappointed not to win again” and that she may appeal her case to the Supreme Court.
In response to a lawsuit by a woman with Down syndrome, the Court of Appeals has upheld a law that permits abortions of Down syndrome pregnancies up until birth.
Heidi Crowter, age 27 and a resident of Coventry, filed a lawsuit against the Department of Health and Social Care to have a portion of the Abortion Act repealed.
In September 2012, judges concluded that the measure was not unconstitutional and was intended to create a balance between the rights of the unborn child and those of women.
At a July hearing, the Court of Appeals revisited the matter.
In a summary of their decision, Lord Justice Underhill, Lady Justice Thirlwall, and Lord Justice Peter Jackson stated that the Act does not violate the rights of “living impaired” individuals.
They noted: “The court acknowledges that many people with Down’s syndrome and other disabilities will be upset and offended by the fact that a diagnosis of a serious disability during pregnancy is a legal justification for abortion, and that they may perceive this as implying that their own lives are of lesser value.
“However, it considers that the notion that this is what the legislation indicates is insufficient to justify an interference with Article 8 rights (to private and family life, as enshrined in the European Convention on Human Rights)”
In response to the verdict, Ms. Crowter stated outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London that she may appeal to the Supreme Court.
She told reporters, “I am quite disappointed not to win again, but I will continue to fight since we have already educated changed hearts and minds, and altered people’s thoughts on the law.”
“I am outraged that Down syndrome infants can be aborted before birth. This indicates that I am not regarded and am far less valuable than someone without Down syndrome.
“I am enraged by the judges’ assertion that my emotions do not matter. This makes me feel less worthwhile than someone without Down’s syndrome.
Before we began this court fight, not many people understood the law, but now, because of us and your incredible support, countless individuals are well-versed in the law.
“We would want to thank everyone who has contributed time and money to our legal case.”
In England, Wales, and Scotland, there is a 24-week abortion time limit. Laws permit abortions up until the moment of birth if there is a “substantial danger that if the child were born, it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be severely handicapped,” which includes Down syndrome.
Jason Coppell KC, who was representing Ms. Crowter and Maire Lea-Wilson, the mother of Aidan, a young boy with Down’s syndrome, who brought the appeal along with Ms. Crowter, told the court in July: “Its effect is to stereotype life as a disabled, or seriously handicapped, a person as not worth living and certainly as having less value than life as an able-bodied person, thereby impacting on the feelings of self-worth and self-confidence of disabled
Mr. Coppell stated that the Act has “outdated” terminology that some find offensive and objectionable.
In their decision from the previous year, Lord Justice Singh and Mrs. Justice Lieven ruled that the legislation is a subject for Parliament, which can consider a variety of perspectives and not the courts.
