Mother Challenges Daughter’s Forced Abortion

29.06.2019

Well away from the front page of The Times (25 June 2019) was the account of a London mother who has asked the Court of Appeal to stop an enforced abortion for her mentally-ill daughter. On June 21, a judge of the quaintly named Court of Protection agreed with the local health experts that an abortion would be “in the best interests” of the young woman, even though she opposed it. On June 24, the Court of Appeal overruled that decision, allowing the young woman to continue her pregnancy. Not with standing that the girl’s mother is Roman Catholic—a fact considered to place her outside “progressive” opinion—her views carried weight since she is a trained midwife and as a mother believes that an abortion would be a grave risk to her daughter. Needless to say, the health experts and the judge gave no thought to the right to life of the unborn human person.