Rethink Down Syndrome screening, actress says

Staff Reporter

Screening for Down Syndrome in unborn infants should be reconsidered, comedy actress and writer Sally Phillips has said.

Responding to the introduction of new screening methods, the Miranda star said on BBC Radio 4’s Today show, “as a parent of someone with Down Syndrome I find this arms race for new technologies a bit upsetting”, continuing, “we need to remember we are talking about people.”

Asked whether screening for Down Syndrome should be stopped, she answered, “I think that is a question to be honest. I mean, we need to think as a society – we’re signed up to various human rights acts, we’re hoping to move towards a more inclusive society, we do have to ask the question.”

Stressing that she was simply calling for a debate, she added that the opinions of people with Down Syndrome had never been sought, as it would be “preposterous to ask someone with Down Syndrome who tend to really enjoy their lives whether they ought to have a life”.