Author and celebrity Katie Price has said she would no longer abort a disabled child after experiencing the joy of her eldest son Harvey.
Harvey is now 13 years old and suffers from health problems including blindness and the rare genetic Prader-Willi syndrome.
Speaking about being a parent to a child with disabilities, Price said that while bringing up Harvey is challenging, it is also rewarding.
Dramatic change
Appearing on ITV’s Loose Women programme, Price said that she was young when she became pregnant.
She told the show, “I admit it, that if I knew that he was blind before I had him, as harsh as it sounds, I probably would have aborted him”.
Price explained that this was because she did not think she could cope, and was afraid of the unknown, but the reality has dramatically changed her mind.
Yes it’s challenging, but it’s also rewarding.
Katie Price
“If I got pregnant again and they said your child is going to have disabilities, I would definitely keep it. I would even adopt a child with disabilities”, she told the programme.
Love
Price remarked: “I absolutely love Harvey so much. I would never change anything about him.
“Yes it’s challenging, but it’s also rewarding. He’s a great character and I love him. I don’t think anyone should be ashamed at all if they’ve got a child with disabilities.”
“Anyone who’s a carer, mother, anyone dealing with disabilities, I have so much respect because I know what goes into it”.
Special
As part of The Christian Institute’s Choose Life series in 2014, we shared moving and powerful stories of people who have rejected abortion.
Brian Gault – born without arms as a consequence of his mother taking the drug thalidomide during pregnancy – was one of the people who spoke about his experience.
“It was hard for my mum”, Brian said. “She had a nervous breakdown and at that time she didn’t have any answers – nobody told her why I had no arms.”
“We’re all special”, Brian explained. “Although I have a disability, we shouldn’t be valued because of how productive we can be, what we can do. We should be valued for just being who we are.”