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PERTH, Scotland, September 12, 2006 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A Scottish woman may appeal after losing a suit against Britain’s National Health Service for compensation after the NHS failed to kill both her twin daughters in the womb.

Stacey Dow, the mother of now five year-old surviving twin Jayde, demanded $250,000 from the public health service for support for Jayde, the daughter she never intended to raise. The case was a first of this kind for Britain, commonly called “wrongful life” or “wrongful birth” suits. She said after being informed of the court’s decision that she would be consulting with her lawyers for the next step.

In 2001, Dow, then sixteen, attempted to abort both her children at seven weeks from term at Perth Royal Infirmary, a hospital of the Tayside University Hospitals NHS Trust. When Jayde survived, Dow claimed the money for compensation to raise the child.

She told the Scotsman this week, “Jayde started school two weeks ago and is enjoying it. I still want to do the best for her, but it’s exhausting dealing with the legal side.”

Perth Sheriff Court, Sheriff Michael Fletcher said that the NHS is not liable for the support of a child they failed to kill through abortion. He said that because a doctor uses the word “termination” does not guarantee “success”.

“He could not be held to have done so impliedly, or because he had used the word termination,” the sheriff said.

Dow told reporters on a previous occasion that she had not yet decided what to tell her daughter about the case. “Maybe when she is nine or ten I will sit her down and explain it to her,” she said.

Woman Sues Scottish Abortionists for Support of Surviving Twin
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2005/dec/05120706.html