'The secretive Court of Protection will rule on the woman’s case on Tuesday, in a rare open hearing scheduled because of the overwhelming “public interest” in understanding the case.

She is due to give birth by caesarean section on Wednesday and could undergo an operation to sterilise her at the same time, if the court agrees. Disability campaigners described the prospect of such a “drastic” step as “quite wrong”.'

Read more: Woman with Learning Difficulties Could be Forcibly Sterilised