PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
UK law on disability-selective abortion (1 June 2020)

That this House notes with concern the discrimination inherent in current UK abortion law that allows abortion up to birth for children diagnosed with cleft lip, cleft palate and clubfoot; that such disability-selective abortion up to birth is underreported according to the Department for Health and Social Care; recognises that cleft lip, cleft palate and clubfoot are treatable after birth and are not life-limiting disabilities and thus a primary diagnosis of any of the aforementioned should not qualify as a grounds for abortion under the Abortion Act 1967; that the many testimonies of individuals and celebrities born with cleft lip, cleft palate or clubfoot demonstrate that these conditions do not hold people back in life; that allowing such individuals to be aborted up to birth is contrary to the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 and Equality Act 2010; that UK abortion law does not reflect the positive change in societal attitudes towards disability in the anti-discriminatory, disability progressive culture of 2020; and recognises that UK abortion law must be changed to provide a person diagnosed with cleft lip, cleft palate or clubfoot with the same legal protections as any other person.

Sponsored by:
Carla Lockhart (Democratic Unionist Party)