The Archbishop of Canterbury has revealed that his wife felt pressured into having an abortion by hospital staff years ago.
Speaking during the General Synod, the Church’s ruling body, the Archbishop said hospital staff “expected” his wife Caroline to ask for a termination if their child was born disabled.
He said staff raised the cost of caring for a disabled child when his daughter, Ellie, in her 30s, who is neurodiverse was born.
The archbishop said: “Before she was born, during the pregnancy, there was some concern and a test was offered, but it was made very, very clear to my wife that if the test was taken and proved positive it would be expected that we ask for a termination."
“Ellie is exceptionally precious,” he went on.
“She's precious because she's wonderful, she's kind, she is someone who gets cross and is happy and is sad.”
The comments came during a motion on disabled children put forward by Pete Spiers, an archdeacon from Liverpool, challenging the assumption that bringing a disabled child into the world is a tragedy.
The Archbishop added: “I hope that this motion passes not just because of Ellie but because of our belief in human dignity.”
The motion called on the Government and healthcare providers to ensure that mothers who find out their unborn child may be disabled are given “comprehensive and unbiased information” about the condition and available support.
The motion also called upon healthcare providers and other public bodies to improve the support they give to parents and families of children born with disabilities, as well as upon dioceses, parishes and chaplaincies to consider how they might improve available pastoral advice and support.
After a counted vote of the whole Synod, 312 voted in favour of the motion and 0 voted against.
Many parents of disabled children spoke, with Synod member Rebecca Chapman telling of her “beautiful” autistic son.
She said: “At diagnosis, we got given a leaflet and sent off to start a life we never expected.
“To get support for him at school we have had to fight again and again.
“Our beautiful son is more than worth every moment of fight, every call where you get put on hold, every battle with a faceless system, but Synod it should not have to be so terribly hard.”
