In A World Without Down’s Syndrome? (5 October), the comedy actress Sally Phillips told us that nine out of 10 British women now terminate their pregnancies when they are told their babies are likely to have the genetic condition. Ignoring the question of abortion itself, she asked what this prenatal selection means for society.

The 12-week test, conducted at the time of the first scan, presents mothers with the odds. Phillips was told that there was only a one in 10,000 chance that her first child would have Down’s, but he did. Today Ollie is a happy, lively 11-year-old with a love of jokes and Barcelona football club. “I was expecting tragedy,” she said, “but I got comedy.” The anger that fuelled this unusual programme came from her subjective sense that the pre-natal choice devalues the lives of Down’s children. “It’s really not a catastrophe,” she said to one neonatal specialist. “Why is everybody behaving like it’s a catastrophe?”