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| Woman with Down's loses abortion law fight | Woman with Down's loses abortion law fight |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Heidi Crowter previously wrote to the health secretary saying all non-fatal disabilities should be subject to the standard 24-week abortion limit | Heidi Crowter previously wrote to the health secretary saying all non-fatal disabilities should be subject to the standard 24-week abortion limit |
| A woman with Down's syndrome has lost her High Court challenge against the government over a law that allows abortion up to birth for a foetus with the condition. | A woman with Down's syndrome has lost her High Court challenge against the government over a law that allows abortion up to birth for a foetus with the condition. |
| Heidi Crowter, 26, from Coventry, brought the case saying the legislation did not respect her life. | |
| Her lawyers had argued the rules were unlawfully discriminatory. | |
| But two senior judges dismissed the case and concluded the legislation was not unlawful. | |
| Under current legislation for England, Wales and Scotland, there is a 24-week time limit for abortion, unless "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", which includes Down's syndrome. | |
| The judges ruled the law aimed to strike a balance between the rights of the unborn child and of women. | |
| Ms Crowter, who is married and campaigns under her maiden name, tweeted after the court's ruling to say she was upset not to win "but the fight is not over". | |
| She said: "The judges might not think it discriminates against me, the government might not think it discriminates against me, but I am telling you I feel discriminated against." | |
| This is a very sad day, but I will keep fighting. | |
| Lord Justice Singh and Mrs Justice Lieven said at the outset of their judgement: "The issues which have given rise to this claim are highly sensitive and sometimes controversial." | |
| "This court cannot enter into those controversies; it must decide the case only in accordance with the law." | |
| At the hearing in July, the government said there was no evidence abortion law discriminated against Down's. | |
| But speaking in July, Ms Crowter said the law was offensive, and she wanted to challenge people's perception of Down's syndrome so that they saw "just a normal person". | |
| She also said in the summer her stance was not a campaign against women's right to choose. |