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Barbie with Down’s syndrome to be released later this year

A new Barbie doll with Down’s syndrome is set to be released later this year.

The company behind Barbie, Mattel, have announced that the Barbie will be available later this year. Lisa McKnight, executive vice president and global head of Barbie and Dolls at Mattel said “We are proud to introduce a Barbie doll with Down syndrome to better reflect the world around us and further our commitment to celebrating inclusion through play”.

In making the doll, Mattel partnered with the National Down Syndrome Society. The Barbie with Down’s syndrome wears a necklace with three chevrons representing the three copies of the 21st chromosome, the genetic variation that causes Down’s syndrome. The Barbie also wears a blue and yellow dress decorated with butterflies, the colours and symbols of Down’s syndrome awareness.

Eléonore Laloux, a city councilwoman in France who has Down’s syndrome, came out in support of the doll saying “I want to share my experience and show the world that you can live happily [with Down’s syndrome]”.

Matt Walsh of the Daily Wire described the Barbie as “pro-life” and Lila Rose, president of Live Action, a US pro-life group, simply said “Love this”.

Cortney Weil at the Blaze said “The doll with Down syndrome could… mark a shift in the way Western culture views people with the condition.”

Discriminatory abortion law challenged

Heidi Crowter, a 27-year-old woman from Coventry who has Down’s syndrome, had challenged the UK Government over a disability clause in the current law that allows abortion up to birth in those cases where it is thought the baby is disabled.

Together with Máire Lea-Wilson, the mother of Aidan, a young boy who has Down’s syndrome, Heidi argued that the abortion law was incompatible with the European Convention on Human Rights. 

Sadly, however, the Court of Appeal released its judgement that the UK abortion law was not discriminatory against people with disabilities and people with Down’s syndrome in particular.

Shortly after the decision was announced, Heidi told a rally outside the Court “This law was made in 1967 when we  were not even allowed to go to school because of our extra chromosome, so I think it’s time that the judges move with the times and actually meet people with Down’s syndrome and see the people behind the chromosome.”

Along with her legal team, Heidi is now considering seeking permission for the case to be taken on to the Supreme Court.

Abortion up to birth if the baby has Down’s syndrome

Currently in England, Wales and Scotland, there is a general 24-week time limit for abortion, but if the baby has a disability, including Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot, abortion is legal right up to birth.

There were 3,370 disability-selective abortions in 2021. The number of late-term abortions at 24 weeks gestation or over where the baby has a disability increased by 20% from 229 to 274.

The statistics showed there were 859 abortions where a baby had Down’s syndrome in 2021, an increase of 24% from 2020. The statistics also show a 71% increase in late-term abortions at 24 weeks gestation or over where the baby had Down’s syndrome, increasing from 14 in 2020 to 24 in 2021.

Right To Life UK spokesperson Catherine Robinson said “This is a positive initiative tha, hopefully, will help to change societal attitudes to people with Down’s syndrome.”

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Dear reader,

Thanks to the hard work and dedication of people like you across the UK, the McArthur assisted suicide Bill in Scotland was defeated in March by 69 votes to 57.

Then, in April, the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill fell in the House of Lords.

Many commentators thought both Bills would become law.

If that had happened, governments in England, Scotland and Wales would now be preparing to roll out assisted suicide services.

Over the coming decades, this would have led to the deaths of many thousands of vulnerable people.

But that is not what happened.

Because supporters like you acted, those Bills were stopped.

Because of you, many vulnerable lives have been saved.

These were two very significant victories. But sadly, they are not the last battles we face this year.

The new Parliamentary session begins this Wednesday. We now face three major threats.

  1. Attempts to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill and bypass the House of Lords

    The assisted suicide lobby, led by Dignity in Dying, a multi-million-pound pressure group, has made it clear that it is going to attempt to bring back the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill in the next parliamentary session.

    It then plans to use the Parliament Acts to bypass the House of Lords and force the Bill into law.

  2. Labour Government plans for a major expansion of abortion provision, including financial incentives for ‘lunch-hour’ abortions

    Under these plans, the Government would financially incentivise major abortion providers, BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices, to provide ‘lunch-hour’ or ‘same-day’ abortions.

    ‘Lunch-hour’ abortion services are walk-in abortion services designed to fit into a woman’s lunch hour.

    Women facing an unplanned pregnancy need time, care and support, not a system that gives abortion clinics a financial incentive to rush them through consultations, scans and abortions on the same day.

    If these plans go ahead, many more lives are likely to be ended by abortion here in the UK.

  3. Extreme abortion up to birth proposals in Scotland

    In Scotland, plans are moving forward to introduce an extreme abortion up to birth law. This would go far beyond the abortion law change recently backed by the Lords for England and Wales.

    A review of abortion law in Scotland, commissioned by Humza Yousaf when he was Scottish First Minister, recommended that the Scottish Government scrap the current 24-week time limit – and abortion be available on social grounds, including for sex-selective purposes, right up to birth.

    The final plans are expected to be brought forward as a Government Bill in the new Scottish Parliament, which begins this Thursday.

If these three major threats succeed, thousands of vulnerable lives will be lost.

We cannot allow this to happen.

We can only defeat these three major threats with your help.

We ran our biggest campaigns ever to help defeat the assisted suicide Bills at Westminster and in Scotland.

That work has made a serious dent in our limited resources.

To cover this gap and ensure we can effectively defeat these three major threats in the coming months, we are aiming to raise at least £199,250 by midnight this Sunday (17 May 2026).

We are, therefore, appealing to you to please give as generously as you can.

Every donation, large or small, will make a crucial difference in saving the lives of the unborn and many others. Plus, if you are a UK taxpayer, £1 becomes £1.25 with Gift Aid at no extra cost to you.

By stopping these threats, YOU can save lives during this new Parliamentary session.

Will you donate now to help protect vulnerable lives from these three major threats?

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Help stop three major anti-life threats.

Help stop three major anti-life threats.