Court of Appeal dismisses challenge to abortion laws relating to disability

The Court of Appeal has today rejected a challenge to s.1(1)(d) of the Abortion Act 1967: R (Crowter) v Secretary of State for Health and Social Care [2022] EWCA Civ 1559. The Claimants argued that the current law on abortion breaches the Article 8 ECHR rights of those with Down’s syndrome. Section 1(1)(d) permits abortion at any time where “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”. Two registered medical practitioners have to come to this opinion in good faith. Importantly, there is no time limit on the application of this provision, meaning that it can be invoked throughout a woman’s pregnancy. The Court of Appeal has rejected the argument that s.1(1)(d) interferes with the Article 8 rights of the disabled, including those with Down’s Syndrome. It also decided that, if it were wrong on that issue, it would have found that any interference was in accordance with the law and justified. There has been extensive publicity about the judgment, including: ITV News, The Independent, Sky News, BBC News, and The Guardian. Julia Smyth and Yaaser Vanderman represented the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care.