Sally Phillips: Do We Really Want a World without Down’s Syndrome?

A new prenatal test could eradicate Down’s syndrome. Actress Sally Phillips, who has a child with the condition, explains why that would make the world a poorer place

Sally Phillips and her husband, Andrew, didn’t find out that their first child, Olly, 12, had Down’s syndrome until he was 10 days old. Nobody noticed on the day he was born. “I had a caesarean because he was breech,” says Phillips. “I reacted badly to the anaesthetic so everyone was focused on me. Olly scored highly on all the tests and no one noticed there was anything different about him. I noticed. And I asked them to look at him. There was something about his eyes that was troubling me. It was as if his cheeks were really big and not allowing his eyes to open. I said, ‘Does he look like that because I ate a lot of cake when I was pregnant?’ They said, ‘Yes, probably.’”

Best-known for her roles in the Bridget Jones films (as Bridget’s best friend, Shazza) and Miranda (where she plays Miranda’s old school friend, Tilly)...