Woman with learning disabilities in abortion case should get contraception, Judge says

The woman’s mother won a legal battle with doctors, who said the pregnancy should be terminated, in June.

Specialists now plan to deliver the baby by Caesarean section in the near future.

Bosses at an NHS hospital trust responsible for the woman’s care said doctors should be allowed to fit a contraceptive device immediately after that operation, while the woman was under anaesthesia.

But lawyers appointed to represent the woman, and a council social worker who works with her, disagreed.

They said fitting a contraceptive device immediately after a Caesarean section was performed would be expedient.

But they said expediency was not enough to justify such an “interference” with the woman’s “bodily autonomy”.

They said such a move would be premature and said the woman should have more involvement and control over the decision.

Mr Justice MacDonald on Wednesday decided that fitting a contraceptive device immediately after a Caesarean section would be in the woman’s best interests.

The judge had analysed arguments about contraception at a hearing in the Court of Protection, where issues relating to people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions are considered, in London.

He said he would publish a ruling outlining the reasoning behind his decision soon.

Earlier this year, bosses at the hospital trust asked a different Court of Protection judge to let doctors perform…