Just over 21,000 people have signed an online petition urging ITV to “bin” an upcoming storyline in its popular soap Emmerdale involving a couple who will abort a child because it has Down’s Syndrome.

The petition hopes to persuade ITV bosses to cancel the storyline “for the sake of people with Down’s Syndrome who should not have to put up with this prejudice”.

Rachel Mewes, who set up the petition, has a 3-year-old child with Down’s Syndrome called Betsy and knew she had the condition before her daughter was born. Rachel writes that she chose to keep her because, “knowing and working with people who have Down’s Syndrome”, she knows they are “a natural part of the human race” and that “every single person has value”.

Calling Emmerdale’s Down’s Syndrome storyline “absolutely disgusting”, Rachel Mewes says it perpetuates “the embedded prejudice towards people with Down’s Syndrome that is a huge problem in our culture. It is irresponsible, ignorant and prejudiced.”

SPUC comment

A SPUC spokesperson said: “The stigma surrounding Down’s Syndrome is a sad truth that influential channels such as ITV with its flagship soap should be attempting to dispel rather than encourage.

“The barbaric and discriminatory killing of unborn children diagnosed with chromosomal anomalies such as Down’s Syndrome – 1,184 babies in 2019 alone – is a blight on our society, which Rachel Mewes’ petition is seeking to combat.

“As the petition says, her daughter should not have to grow up in a world that believes she will be better off dead.”

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