Women protest forced abortion outside Parliament after 'horrific' court ruling
A protest has been held outside the Houses of Parliament in London following a shocking UK court order to perform an abortion on a woman with a learning disability.
The Stand With Her demonstration on Tuesday night was held after three Court of Appeal judges overturned the ruling of the Court of Protection mandating that the abortion be performed on the woman, who is 22 weeks pregnant.
The Court of Protection ruled last Friday that the abortion should go ahead despite the opposition of the woman's Catholic mother, who had offered to raise the baby, and her social worker.
Questions are being asked by Christian and pro-life groups as to why the case was heard by Justice Nathalie Lieven, who has in the past campaigned for and represented pro-abortion groups, including abortion provider BPAS.
Women gathered outside Parliament on Tuesday to call upon Government to ensure that such a ruling never happens again in Britain.
Organisers, including Right to Life UK, said the demonstration was an act of "solidarity with this woman, her baby and her wider family who have had to go through this terrible ordeal".
Right to Life UK has called upon the Department of Health to reveal how many women in the UK have been forced into an abortion "as unfortunately it is likely that this is not a one-off case".
After last Friday's judgement, a petition set up by the campaign group calling on the Secretary of State to intervene was signed over 130,000 times.
Right to Life said it was "absolutely brilliant" that the Court of Appeal had overturned the mandate but added that "this horrific original ruling should never have happened in the first place".
"It is totally unacceptable that a mother had to go to the Court of Appeal to stop the state forcing a late-term abortion on her daughter. We must ensure that no women and family will ever have to go through this again," the group said.
One woman protesting at the event, Emmi Egbonou, said she wanted to stand with the woman and her family.
"What is shocking is that this was ever allowed to happen in the first place. The fact that the state can force a late-term abortion on a woman who did not want one is not the kind of state we want to live in," she said.
"The fact that a judge could make a ruling to force an abortion on a vulnerable woman without her consent is a betrayal of the justice system and betrayal of the most vulnerable in our society.
"A forced late-term abortion would have been an irreversible trauma on the mother and would have ended the life of the baby that had been growing inside her womb for almost six months and, at 22 weeks, could have survived outside the womb.
"We are here today to we stand with this woman. We stand with her baby. We stand with her family. We stand with every woman in the UK who has been forced by a hospital to abort their baby.
"The Government must ensure no women and family will ever have to go through this again. We are here today to send a clear message to the Government. This must never happen again."
Court's abortion ruling infringes on pregnant woman's human rights, says bishop
Jeremy Hunt reiterates support for lower abortion time limit
