From: The Catholic Herald.
Last year saw a 15 per cent increase in abortions for babies with Down’s syndrome in Scotland, according to new figures.
Public Health Scotland has published abortion statistics that show the number of abortions involving a baby with Down’s syndrome increased from 52 in 2023 to 60 in 2024. This number is an 82 per cent increase from 2021, when there were 33 abortions of unborn babies that had Down’s syndrome.
The figures also show that there were 280 abortions involving an unborn baby with a disability. This number is a 26 per cent increase from 2021, when there were 222 abortions involving an unborn baby with a disability.
“As a mother of a 25-year-old daughter who has Down’s syndrome, I see every day the unique value she brings to our family and the positive impact she has on others around her,” says Lynn Murray, spokesperson for Don’t Screen Us Out, an organisation that represents 17,000 people with Down’s syndrome, their families and supporters in the UK, whose mission is stated as “actively working to build a United Kingdom where people with Down’s syndrome are equally valued and have an equal chance of being born”.
Murray continues: “It is deeply concerning that despite the leaps that advocacy groups have made in raising awareness in support of people with Down’s syndrome, abortion in the case of Down’s syndrome is still so commonplace and widespread in the UK. In fact, we hear from parents all the time how abortion was repeatedly presented to them in the hospital as an obvious solution following the receipt of the news that their baby had Down’s syndrome.”
Under the current law, abortion is allowed up to birth if a baby has a disability, including Down’s syndrome. However, last year Sir Liam Fox MP tabled an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill that was signed by over 76 MPs to stop abortion up to birth for babies with Down’s syndrome in England and Wales.