Bethan Simpson, 27, from Burnham-on-Crouch, Essex, has related how she could not abort “a child I could feel kicking” after a 20-week scan showed her daughter had spina bifida.

Antonia Tully, SPUC’s Director of Campaigns said: “All Bethan’s natural instincts told her that her baby’s life mattered more than the disability she had. It’s a wonderful moment in a pregnancy when you feel your baby kicking. Your baby is telling you: ‘I’m here’. For Bethan it seems that her baby came first and the disability came second.”

Joy at seeing her daughter walk

15 months after the birth of her daughter, Mrs Simpson has described how seeing her daughter walk “validates why we made the decision not to terminate”. “It makes us feel amazing, actually… She’s an absolute joy.”

Doctors had advised Mrs Simpson to abort her daughter, named Elouise, after a 20-week scan showed she had spina bifida, a condition which occurs when the spinal column and cord are not properly formed, causing a gap in the spine. The condition can lead to learning difficulties.

“We were told that she would probably have no expectation of walking, developing normally in regards to her brain development, learning”, her mother said, who was told by doctors to “expect the worst”.

Rejecting the urging of doctors to terminate her child, Mrs Simpson instead opted for innovative “foetal repair” surgery at University College Hospital, London. Undergoing a four-hour operation, in which her baby was operated on in the womb, surgeons successfully sewed up the gap in her daughter’s spine. 

80% of mothers abort children diagnosed with spina bifida

Antonia Tully said: “It’s wonderful that little Elouise is now walking. Whatever the diagnosis before birth, there’s always hope. Bethan found hope in foetal repair surgery. It’s sad that the doctors were so quick to offer Bethan an abortion.”

Despite Mrs Simpson’s refusal to terminate her child, an estimated 80% of mothers abort children diagnosed with spina bifida, which affects roughly four in 10,000 pregnancies.