Interview 19 - Screening for sickle cell and beta thalassaemia

Age at interview: 36

Brief Outline:

A mother who knew she was a sickle cell carrier. Her partner believed he was not a carrier, but her third baby was born with sickle cell anaemia. In this pregnancy she had CVS; the baby is a carrier only.

Background:

Registered childminder, with three children aged 13, 11 and 9, is now pregnant with new partner. Ethnic background/nationality: Black African.

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She would consider ending a pregnancy, even though she comes from a...

I was just going to ask about your daughter - you, you mentioned that your first thought was that you would go for adoption?

Yes.

Did it ever cross your mind in that case to end the pregnancy, or was that not an option for you?

That wasn't an option for me, because I was far gone in the pregnancy at that point.

If it'd been earlier, was that something you might have considered?

Yeah, if it had been earlier, I would have had an abortion.

For some people, kind of religion plays a part in their decision making. I don't know if that's the case for you. What kind of factors were you thinking about in thinking about abortion and adoption, whether to continue?

Well, religion or no religion - well, I've come from a very religious background. My granddad is a Reverend - well, a Reverend headmaster. My Dad is an educationalist as well, he's a teacher. So, but sometimes I think you just have to be very practical about things. I want to be a realist, I want to be very realistic about things. I think every child deserves a right to life, but I also think every child deserves a right to a good life as well. A fulfilled life. At least health is one thing you cannot buy, and if a child wouldn't have a good quality, life quality, why would I bring that child into the world? So I'd rather not put my child through that and have an abortion, have an abortion instead.