You may recall I was asked to give evidence in Westminster at the All Party Disability Abortion Law Inquiry aimed at reviewing an old law that allows abortion 'up to and including during birth' for babies 'at significant risk of serious handicap' (all undefined). Representatives from all the major parties convened and listened to evidence from various groups and individuals.
Much of the discussion centred around support, counselling and advice given to pregnant women at point of diagnosis, my own personal crusade.
Today the report is released.
I attach below the press release which highlights all the main points. I have to say, I find it all encouraging. It says exactly what we all hoped it would.
Reduce limit for disability abortion to 24 weeks in line with others.
DS is not a 'severe handicap' but a mild to moderate developmental delay.
Provide support, counselling and unbiased facts for parents to make informed choices.
Now we just have to wait for the next step....
Reduce limit for disability abortion to 24 weeks in line with others.
DS is not a 'severe handicap' but a mild to moderate developmental delay.
Provide support, counselling and unbiased facts for parents to make informed choices.
Now we just have to wait for the next step....
READ THE FULL REPORT HERE
PRESS RELEASE FROM FIONA BRUCE MP
Embargoed
until 11.00am Wednesday 17th July 2013
End the
“discrimination against unborn disabled children”, says Parliamentary Report
The Government must review
the Abortion Act and end the discrimination against unborn disabled children,
says a major new Parliamentary Report published today.
The report says that the
current legislation is out-dated, allowing abortion for disabled babies up to birth
and is in urgent need of reform.
It sets out a raft of
recommendations aimed at reforming the rules governing abortion on the grounds
of disability and ending the wide disparities in how the Act is applied across
the country.
The report, the work of a
cross-party Commission, chaired by Conservative backbench MP Fiona Bruce, says:
“...it is time to review the moral, ethical, legal and practical framework
within which this provision of the Abortion Act operates and how the law
applies to a fetus beyond the age of viability...”
“...Parliament
should consider at the very least the two main options for removing those
elements which a majority of witnesses believe are discriminatory – that is
either reducing the upper time limit for abortions on the grounds of disability
from birth to make it equal to the upper limit for able bodied babies or
repealing Section 1(1)(d) altogether.”
Mrs Bruce commented:
“This is an incredibly difficult and emotive issue, which for too long
governments of all colours have failed to properly review. In part this is due
to the very strong feelings on both side of the debate, usually traduced to an
argument between pro-choice and pro-life, as one respondent told the
Commission.
Fiona Bruce MP continued:
“Given the advances in medical science and the very positive changes in our
attitudes towards disabled people since the relevant law was enacted over
twenty years ago it is time to review it.”
The Commission received
nearly 300 submissions (299) in both oral and written sessions and found
“...that there continue to be strongly held and polarised views on how the law
treats abortion for babies with disabilities...
“The vast majority of
those who gave written evidence believe that allowing abortion up to birth on
grounds of disability is discriminatory, contrary to the spirit of the Equality
Act, and does affect wider public attitudes towards discrimination.”
Members were drawn from
both Houses of Parliament and included, its Vice Chair Virendra Sharma MP,
Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group on Down Syndrome, Lord McColl of
Dulwich, who served as Parliamentary Private Secretary to John Major, Robert
Buckland MP, Chair of the Autism All Party Parliamentary Group and Chair of the
Conservative Human Rights Commission, former TV presenter and Liberal Democrat
peer, Baroness Benjamin of Beckenham, Rob Flello MP, the Labour Shadow Justice
Minister, crossbench peer and eminent psychiatrist, Baroness Hollins of
Wimbledon, Paul Maynard MP, Chair of the All Party Parliamentary Group for
Young Disabled People and former three-time paralympian Baroness Masham.
Controversially, the
Commission rejected calls for a list of conditions to be published that would
meet the “seriously handicapped” criteria as “such a list would inevitably
discriminate, on arbitrary and subjective grounds.”
It heard that pregnancies
beyond 24 weeks can only be ended on the basis of a “substantial risk” of the
child being “seriously handicapped”. However, the Commission found that
the law does not define either “substantial” or “seriously”.
In 2012, according to Department of Health, there were 2,692
abortions carried out under “Ground E of the Abortion Act 1967,” a 17% increase
on the previous year; 160 of these abortions took place after 24 weeks.
The Commission expressed
concern that some treatable conditions were still being used to justify
abortion on the grounds of disability.
They heard that potential
disabilities such as cleft palate and clubfoot continue to be used in a small
number of cases under Ground E, although in a majority of these cases it was
suggested that there were other genetic factors present.
Professor Joan Morris
confirmed to the Commission that she estimated there had been seven
terminations in the last decade for cleft lip only and estimated around five
for talipes (club foot), but there were no reliable figures.
The Committee also heard
evidence that Down’s Syndrome accounted for around a quarter (512) of all
Ground E abortions and that approximately nine in 10 (90 per cent) of babies
diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome were aborted.
Leading disability rights
campaigner, Mike Sullivan of Saving Downs, called for the law to be changed as
the condition was no longer considered to be “serious handicap”.
“The law should be
amended to exclude Down’s Syndrome as it does “not meet the test of a
‘serious handicap’ since it is a mild to moderate developmental delay” and
the decades of experience and research on lives lived with Down’s Syndrome
prove beyond a doubt that Down’s Syndrome does not meet that criteria.”
Mrs Bruce concluded:
“What quickly became clear is that there are wide discrepancies as to how the
current law is being applied. Worryingly we heard evidence that the way parents
are supported is widely variable across the country - ranging from the
exceptional to the appalling; we heard how parents can find themselves only being given
a leaflet on abortion, after being told the shattering news that their unborn
baby could be disabled, rather than a support package and information on the
specific condition diagnosed. Some parents told us they felt pressured into
having an abortion and that they had to find out for themselves from the
internet information about the condition diagnosed and any potential support
for them should they choose to keep their baby.
We also heard good
examples of support and counselling, and one of the most important of our
proposals is to recommend that best practice guidelines are developed to ensure
parents are provided with practical and balanced information from trained
experts as soon as possible after discovery of a fetal disability, so they can
make an informed choice.
As one parent told us,
summarising what many others reported: “To
give a family a diagnosis of a disability and then to immediately follow that
up with the advice that they can have a termination without any other
information is simply not acceptable in a civilized society.”
I hope our findings will
kickstart and inform a much needed debate on this issue.
It can’t be right that
nearly 50 years after abortion was legalised, we still discriminate against
unborn disabled children, even on conditions that we would not describe as
serious.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
The current law permits an abortion to take place
up to 40 weeks (or birth) if tests for disability indicate that there is a
‘substantial risk’ that the child might be born ‘seriously handicapped.’ The
law does not define these criteria and they are broadly interpreted.
The legal limit for all other abortions is 24
weeks.
In light of the current
legal position, the Parliamentary Inquiry into Abortion on the Grounds of
Disability sought evidence from parents, medical practitioners, academia,
support groups, disability groups, lawyers and individuals with an interest
regarding the current theory, practice and implications of the approach to
abortion on the grounds of disability in the UK.
The terms of reference of the Commission were to:
· Establish and assess the
intention behind the law governing abortion on the grounds of disability.
·
Establish
how the law works in practice and is interpreted by medical practitioners.
·
Determine
the impact of the current law on disabled people and assess the views of groups
representing their interests.
· Assess the
effectiveness of the information and guidance provided to families following
the diagnosis of a disability and the impact that has on outcomes.
· Examine how
the law, guidance and support for practitioners and families can be developed
going forward.
Committee membership
Fiona Bruce MP (Chair)
Virendra Sharma MP (Vice
Chair)
Paul Maynard MP
Baroness Hollins of
Wimbledon
Robert Buckland MP
Lord McColl of Dulwich
Stuart Andrew MP
Baroness Benjamin of
Beckenham
David Simpson MP
Baroness Masham of Ilton
Rob Flello MP
Dr John Pugh MP
Baroness Knight of
Collingtree
