Learning Disabled Woman Should Not Have Forced Abortion, Rules High Court

A pregnant woman with severe learning difficulties must not be forced to have an abortion, the High Court ruled today.

Doctors applied for an order to allow them to terminate her pregnancy claiming the child is endangering her life – but the judge found the mother must still have the right to decide – despite her disability.

The woman, whose identity is kept secret for legal reasons but is described as having ‘significant learning impairment’, has had a series of strokes because she suffers from sickle cell disease.

Medics said she does not have the ability to make the decision herself and have described the need for an abortion as ‘urgent’.

But Mr Justice Hedley, sitting in the Court of Protection at London’s High Court, said it was ‘in her best interests’ if the woman, who is 18 weeks pregnant and from the south of England, was ‘to continue with the pregnancy’.

There was a belief that the alleged father was known but it would not be right for the court to make any observations about that, he added.

 The judge went on that it was very important to bear in mind that people with severe learning difficulties ‘may very well retain the capacity to make deeply personal decisions about how they conduct their lives’.

These could include decisions about choice of partners, the extent of sexual activity, making permanent relationships ‘and decisions about their own medical care including, as in this case, the continuation or termination of pregnancy,’ he said.

The judge decided this after independent expert in psychiatry, Dr Stephen Tyrer, expressed the view that she did have capacity ‘to decide whether or not to continue with, or terminate, pregnancy’.

Despite this she ‘manifestly lacked capacity’ to participate in legal proceedings today, the judge said.

The woman’s sickle cell disease is very serious and the baby must be terminated very soon to reduce the risk of her losing her life, doctors claimed.

Her condition means that her red blood cells develop abnormally, preventing oxygen being supplied around the body properly.

The cells’ shape can also clog blood vessels, affecting breathing and leading to anaemia, severe respiratory problems, strokes and in some cases death.

Around 250,000 people in the UK are believed to have it, and it is more prevalent among ethnic minorities.

The case to force the abortion was argued by an NHS trust in southern England, in the Court of Protection, sitting at the High Court in London today.

Until recently the Court of Protection sat in secret and is charged with ruling on ‘life and death’ cases where patients are deemed incapable of making a decision themselves.

But it has also been criticised for some of the rulings it has made.

The authorities have previously stopped a dementia patient going on the holiday of a lifetime because it was deemed too dangerous and forced another individual to use contraception.