A mother has spoken out against plans to allow abortion on the grounds of disability in South Carolina, after her son who has a rare genetic condition celebrated his 14th birthday.
Marta McClanahan’s son Kayden has Trisomy 18, also known as Edwards’ syndrome. Doctors said after he was born that if he were to live longer than a few weeks he would “do nothing” and “know nothing”.
But in a Facebook post on Kayden’s 14th birthday, Marta described her son’s many happy experiences and said he can “say momma and sign mom and dad”.
Loves life
She said: “Yes there are so many things Kayden can’t do but there are so many things he can!”
She said his “eyes and smile” say it all: “He loves life, and he loves his family and we love him too and that’s all that matters.”
Marta said that Kayden’s story has helped save other babies with the same condition from being aborted.
Medical decision
She criticised a member of South Carolina’s House of Representatives who asserted that aborting a baby with a ‘foetal anomaly’ is a “medical decision”.
Democrat representative Dr Robert Ridgeway made the claims in reference to a Bill that would ban abortions after 20 weeks.
The original Bill, introduced in December, only allowed abortion to save the life of the mother, but a committee has added an amendment for ‘foetal anomaly’.
Supreme Court
Last week, the Senate in Ohio passed a Bill banning abortions after 20 weeks, with an exception to save the life of the mother. It now moves to the state House of Representatives.
In Texas, several abortion clinics are to stay open for the time being following a Supreme Court ruling on Monday postponing a decision of the 5th US Circuit Court of Appeals.
Last month, eleven clinics in Texas were set to close after a law requiring abortion clinics to meet certain hospital-level standards was upheld by the Court of Appeals.
Legal action
But pro-abortion groups filed a motion to appeal the decision at the Supreme Court.
Meanwhile, a judge in Florida has temporarily blocked a law requiring women to wait 24 hours before having an abortion.
The American Civil Liberties Union of Florida and the Center for Reproductive Rights took legal action after the measure was signed into law.