British Court Orders Disabled Woman to Have Abortion Against Her Will

The unnamed mother is in her 20s and has been diagnosed with a “moderately severe” learning disorder, meaning she has a mental age between six and nine, the Catholic Herald reported.

The woman’s doctors argued that an abortion was in her “best interests”. But her social worker disagreed, and her legal team said there was “no proper evidence” to show this.Her legal team said that, although they accepted the woman was unable to give or withhold consent, the woman’s own mother believed that doctors “underestimated [her] ability and understanding, and that more weight should be place on her wishes and feelings.”

In her ruling, Lieven said, “I am acutely conscious of the fact that for the State to order a woman to have a termination where it appears that she doesn’t want it is an immense intrusion … [but] I have to operate in [her] best interests, not on society’s views of termination.”