Recent UK figures show increase in abortions for Down syndrome

Recent data released in the United Kingdom (UK) has shown a troubling increase in the number of babies aborted due to the diagnosis of Down syndrome.

Key Takeaways:

• 735 abortions in the UK were committed in 2023, a 7.3 increase from 2019.

• Ten of those abortions were "late-term," committed at or after 24 weeks.

• UK law allows discriminatory abortions up to birth for "disabilities" — even for Down syndrome.

The Details:

According to the figures released by the UK’s Department of Health and Social Care, 735 abortions were committed in 2023 in England and Wales due to a prenatal diagnosis of Down syndrome — a shocking 7.3% increase from the 656 abortions committed for that reason in 2019.

The numbers also reveal over 300 late-term abortions committed at 24 weeks and beyond for "disabilities," — 10 of which were for Down syndrome.

According to the organization Don't Screen Us Out, data released in March 2024 showed that 87.26% of all preborn babies given a diagnosis of Down syndrome were aborted in 2021, though those figures are likely higher due to the underreporting of disability abortion statistics.

Lynn Murray, spokesperson for the Don’t Screen Us Out campaign, decried the alarming statistics, saying:

“As a mother of a 25-year-old daughter who has Down’s syndrome, I see every day the unique joy she brings to our family and the continuing positive impact she has on others around her. 

It is deeply alarming 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 remains 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 the solution following the receipt of the news that their baby had Down’s syndrome.

We rightly recognise that discrimination against people with Down’s syndrome is unacceptable after birth, but our abortion law allows direct discrimination before birth."

Pro Life Campaign spokesperson Eilís Mulroy also expressed dismay at the high rate of abortions for the diagnosis of Down syndrome, calling it "deeply troubling," and adding, "It suggests that women are being advised that abortion is a normal response to news that an unborn child may have Down Syndrome or another disability. A genuinely compassionate society should be offering practical help and meaningful support to families in this situation, not suggesting ending a life as the default response to disability."

Zoom In:

UK law allows for the abortion of preborn children up until "viability," which it considers to be 24 weeks, despite children having survived when born as early as 21 weeks. Even more troubling, abortions are allowed through all nine months if the child has a "disability" diagnosis — even if that diagnosis is Down syndrome. Though advocates have fought hard in recent years to overturn this discriminatory law, their efforts have produced no success.

Heidi Crowter, a young woman with Down syndrome who has openly fought for a change to the UK law, has said that it sends a message to those with Down syndrome that their lives are not worth living. "The current law is unfair. It makes me feel like I shouldn’t exist, and that I’d be better off dead in the eyes of the law,” she told The Sunday Telegraph in 2020.

The Bottom Line:

All children have value and deserve to be treated with dignity. There is no greater form of discrimination than killing a preborn child simply because he or she has Down syndrome.