The House of Lords Library has released a briefing on a bill which aims to end abortion up to birth on the grounds of disability.
Lord Shinkwin's Abortion (Disability Equality) Bill, which will receive its second reading in the House of Lords today, seeks to remove section 1(1)(d) from the Abortion Act 1967, which permits abortion up to birth on the grounds of disability.
The paper notes Lord Shinkwin's intention for the Bill: "This Bill gives Parliament an opportunity to look at the law again and remove the most pernicious example of institutional disability discrimination still on the statute."
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Abortion up to birth for disability
The paper explains the grounds for abortion set down by the 1967 Abortion Act. Abortion is illegal unless it meets one of these grounds. For babies without a disability, the abortion limit is 24 weeks, but for babies with a disability, it is up to birth.
The report cites statistics from The Department of Health, which shows that in 2015 in England and Wales 3,213 (two percent) of abortions were carried out under section 1(1)(d) ("that there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped").
The Department of Health publication qualifies this by saying: "It is likely there is a significant undercount presented in the ground E notification tables in this publication," meaning that even more babies were aborted on the grounds of disability last year.
Babies aborted for minor disabilities
Statistics show that almost all women who are told their child will have Down’s syndrome, choose to abort. 9 in 10 Down's syndrome babies are currently aborted, and there are fears this number will increase further upon the introduction of new pre-natal testing.
The Don't Screen Us Out Campaign has sought to highlight the happy and full lives of people living with Down’s.
The statistics also reveal that 11 children were aborted for cleft palate last year – a condition that can be remedied.
Take action
Please support this bill by contacting your MP, asking them to urge the Prime Minister to make time for the bill to be debated in the House of Commons.
Please pray ahead of the reading today.
Related Links:
Abortion (Disability Equality) Bill [HL]: Briefing for Lords Stages (Parliament)
We're All Equal (We're All Equal)