SARAH Ewart was just 23 when she and her husband were told their “much wanted baby” would not survive outside the womb.
She was 19 weeks pregnant in 2013 when a scan flagged up a serious issue. She later learned that the unborn baby girl, whom the couple named Ella, had anencephaly - a condition where a large part of the brain, skull and scalp does not develop.
From tomorrow, guidance issued by the Northern Ireland Office means that women who have been given a similar diagnosis to Mrs Ewart will be allowed to have a termination in the north.
Speaking from her mother’s home in Belfast, the 29-year-old said she feels proud that her decision to speak out has led to real change.
“It’s such a big thing and such an important thing that I want to see it through to the end,” she said.
During her first pregnancy, doctors told her that they “couldn’t do anything for us and to continue with the pregnancy”.
“We asked where to go (for a termination) and they said they couldn’t tell us,” she said.
“To be so overjoyed to be expecting a much wanted baby and then to be told you’re going to lose that baby and the hospital can’t help you in any way - it’s actually terrifying.”
She and her husband made the difficult choice to have a termination in England.
“The birth would have been too dangerous and it wasn’t what I wanted for my first,” she said.
She added: “People think you’ve had a termination and you’re (fine). My body still continued on like I’d had a baby. Breast milk came into play and you’re left with no baby.
"It’s the most heartbreaking thing that anyone has to go through and to be forced to travel away from home, leaving your family and friends behind and the medical team who know you is a very, very scary thing.”
Mrs Ewart said she was told in England she was “lucky” to be from the north because the termination was being provided “at a discounted rate... they were talking like I was buying something in a shop - it was ridiculous”.
Since then, she has become a high-profile campaigner to allow abortions in the north in cases of fatal foetal abnormality. Following a case she brought, the High Court ruled earlier this month that the north’s abortion law breaches the UK's human rights commitments.
Mrs Ewart said she contacted every MLA on the issue and decided to go public after only two replied.
“There were so many women contacting us privately... just sharing their experiences or panicking because they were going through the same thing. It was desperation for people,” she said.
The mother-of-two continued to speak out during her subsequent two pregnancies and spoke to MLAs for two years before deciding to take legal action, supported by Amnesty.
“I’ll never, ever have a grave for my little girl or ashes in my house and I want that for (other) women,” she said.
“I didn’t realise that you would have had to arrange to bring back remains.
“We should never have been put in that position.”
Mrs Ewart added that she admires any woman with a fatal foetal diagnosis who decides to continue with the pregnancy but said all women in that position should also have the option to have a termination.
“This is a medical procedure and we should have that care here."
