Decision announced in court of protection
The mother of a woman with learning difficulties has withdrawn her legal bid to have her daughter forcibly sterilised.
Her decision was announced at a preliminary hearing at the court of protection before the president of the Family Division, Sir Nicholas Wall.
When the case was heard in February, the 21-year-old woman, known only as P, was due to have her second child the following day by caesarean section. At that point, the mother, Mrs P, asked Mr Justice Hedley, then hearing the case, to give a ruling that day to allow an NHS trust to perform a sterilisation at the same time as the caesarean. She told him that, although the family had made a commitment to help her bring up two children, they could not make a commitment to any future children.
The case was adjourned because expert evidence was unavailable for the court to make a determination in an application which raised "extremely serious and important" issues.