A woman with Down's syndrome has slammed the UK's abortion law which allows fetuses with the condition to be legally aborted at any time.
Heidi Carter, 26, from Coventry, England, is now challenging the law along with two other claimants at the British High Court in a case that began on Tuesday, July 13, per BBC.
Jason Coppal QC, the claimants' barrister, said the High Court the current law "stereotypes and demeans".
He said to Lord Justice Singh and Justice Lieven that Máire Lea-Wilson that he "believes it is morally and ethically wrong to destroy life on the grounds of a disability.
"But what we will try and establish is that it is legally wrong".
Listen to Carter challenge abortion laws below:At the two-day hearing, lawyers put forward the argument that the current law is incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights.
"Two of the claimants are in the minority of fetuses who were diagnosed with the condition and not aborted and they live happy and fulfilling lives, as evidence shows the majority of people with Down's syndrome do," Coppal told the court.
Per NHS, abortions can be legally carried out in any case until 24 weeks.
However, this legal time limit does not apply if there is "a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped", and this includes Down's syndrome.
Carter, who campaigns under her maiden name of Crowter, said: "I am someone who has Down's syndrome and I find it extremely offensive that a law doesn't respect my life, and I won't stand for it.
"I want to change the law and I want to challenge people's perception of Down's syndrome. I want them to look at me and say 'this is just a normal person'."
Another claimant, Lea-Wilson, of west London, said she was taking action on behalf of her son Adian who she wants to "grow up knowing he's not someone people have to cope with, he's not a burden to society, he is a wonderful human being in his own right".
"I have two sons who I love and I value equally and I can't understand why the law doesn't," she added.
She went on: "I was 34 weeks pregnant when I discovered Aidan had Down's syndrome and I was asked if I wanted to terminate the pregnancy in the context of a lot of medically biased information, and my own grief, three times.
"The last time I was asked to terminate the pregnancy was two days before he was born."
Carter said that the case has nothing to do with a woman's ability to chose.
