On September the 23rd Maximus aged 4 and his mum Cristina had taken the long journey to London so they could be there to support Heidi, Maire & Aiden at the Royal courts of Justice as they heard the verdict about whether or not children with Down's syndrome are equally valued.
At present the law states that Just because (my son) Max has Down's syndrome he could be Terminated up until birth, for children without Down's syndrome the law protects their lives at 24 weeks. We would like to see this outdated and discriminatory law changed so our children have the same rights as any other, even before they are born.
The judgement was that this law is not discriminatory, our community begs to differ, when women are being repeatedly offered Terminations up until birth, even after they have said NO, this IS discrimination. No woman should have to endure that, no child should face such discrimination even before they have entered the world.
This early discrimination leads to a wider prejudice in society, people think it is ok to ask a mother 'did you know' implying they should have terminated. They approach parents to tell them, 'I would have got an abortion' whilst their child is sat listening. They look in disgust as they think our children are a burden on society, on their parents, on their siblings. They do not see what people with Down's syndrome can bring to society, the studies that prove outdated views wrong. Lets face it, if society is told that people with Down's syndrome shouldn't even be brought into the world, that their condition is so bad that they can be killed up until BIRTH, why on earth would they believe any different? How can we change these negative views if discrimination starts even before birth?
We have created a short video of our experience in London: https://youtu.be/_0-o0X9KBZI
You can read more here:
If you would like to pledge your support to Heidi's appeal you can do so here: Downright discrimination: stop the govt singling out disabled babies (crowdjustice.com)