London, England, May 4, 2021 / 17:00 pm
The High Court in London will hear a landmark case in July challenging the U.K. government over a law allowing abortion up to birth for Down syndrome.
The application, which was filed by Heidi Crowter, a woman with Down syndrome, and Máire Lea-Wilson, a mother whose 23-month-old son has the genetic condition, was granted on Oct. 17. The hearing date is now set for July 6-7.
The campaign group Don’t Screen Us Out said that Crowter and her team have crowdfunded more than $111,000 for the case against the U.K. government over the disability clause of the Abortion Act 1967.
Section 1(1)(d) of the Act permits abortion up to birth if “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.”