Laurel (Charlotte Bellamy) and Jai (Chris Bisson) will be seen deciding to terminate their pregnancy Students for Life Ireland have criticised famed soap Emmerdale’s storyline which “suggests that unborn babies with Down Syndrome should be aborted”, describing the message as both “ableist and unacceptable”.
Down Syndrome
The spokesperson for the group, Leanne Lynch, said, “We all know someone with Down’s Syndrome, and we all see the joy they bring to our lives. In the wake of this controversy the producers of the soap have said that they hope the plot will ‘raise awareness’. What does that even mean?”
Awareness
Ms Lynch proceeded to say that if the soap were serious about raising awareness, they would highlight the fact that the Parliamentary Enquiry into Abortion on the Grounds of Disability published in the UK in 2013 found that 90% of babies diagnosed in the womb with Down Syndrome are aborted.