A judge has given doctors the go-ahead to perform an abortion on a woman with the mental age of a toddler who he believed ‘could have fell pregnant after being raped by a man who also had learning disabilities’.
A GP recently discovered that the woman, who is in her 20s, was pregnant and a police investigation is under way, the Court of Protection in London heard.
Mr Justice Williams said the woman, who is 12 weeks’ pregnant, might have been raped by a man who had ‘a lack of understanding’.
Police are due to carry out DNA tests in a bid to establish the identity of the father.
The judge analysed evidence at the hearing, which considers issues relating to people who lack the mental capacity to make decisions, in London on Friday.
(Image: David Sutherland)
Bosses at an NHS hospital trust asked him to allow doctors to perform a surgical termination.
A lawyer representing the trust said the woman had lived with foster carers for most of her life.
Barrister Eloise Power said the woman’s foster parents were Christians and churchgoers.
But she said the couple were sure that an abortion was in the woman’s best interests.
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Miss Power said medical specialists and council social workers involved also all agreed that a surgical termination was the right option.
Mr Justice Williams said medics could restrain the woman in order to administer a general anaesthetic if necessary.
The judge said the woman, who lives in the north of England, could not be identified in media reports.
He also said the names of the hospital and council involved could not be revealed in case that information created a jigsaw which pointed to the woman’s identity.
