Mum pressured to abort child with Down’s syndrome chooses life

A Welsh mother has spoken out about how she chose life, despite facing pressure to abort her baby after her daughter was diagnosed with Down’s syndrome.

Kat Booker described how the information given to her throughout her pregnancy was “very negative” and made her feel “horrendous”.

She said: “I felt like I was being pushed towards termination, because it was the easier thing to do”.

’Pushed towards termination’

The mother explained: “I was just being told how difficult everything was going to be and all the things that Nancy quite possibly wouldn’t do, but not being given any other information as in there are children living quite happily with Down’s syndrome.”

She added: “It was only after I left, and I was thinking about it, I got really quite angry about the way that I’d been spoken to.”

Her daughter Nancy is now four, and mum Kat described the girl as a “dream”.

Support and community

Laura Howard, Mum to Tomos, a four year old with Down’s syndrome, said receiving his diagnosis felt “very much like a bereavement situation”.

She noted: “People’s reactions, people’s tones, people’s words have such a massive impact”.

Laura and two other mums have set up the charity Seren Dwt (which means Dinky Star in Welsh), who gift Welcome Boxes to babies in Wales with Down’s syndrome. “Having these boxes is saying there is a support group for you”, she explained.

Language matters

Head of Programme for Antenatal Screening Wales Sarah Fox affirmed the importance of words used, saying they would “use language like ‘probability’ or ‘chance’. We would not use the term ‘risk’”.

She added: “We want to consistently improve and make better training and collaborate more closely with maternity services and with families to make sure that the training is fit for purpose”.