Abortion

Baroness Knight of Collingtree Excerpts

Tuesday 4th December 2012 Lords Chamber

Asked by

[Baroness Knight of Collingtree]

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they will take to prevent illegal abortion operations.

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State, Department of Health (Earl Howe)]

My Lords, an abortion may take place only on grounds under the Abortion Act 1967, as amended. Allegations of illegal abortions are taken very seriously by the Government and anyone suspected of acting outside the law will be referred to the police for investigation. It is for the Crown Prosecution Service to decide whether to prosecute individuals and for the courts to determine whether there has been a breach of the law on abortion.

[Baroness Knight of Collingtree]

My Lords, is my noble friend aware that Parliament passed the Abortion Act 1967 on very firm assurances that clear medical reasons would have to be agreed by two doctors, who examined the patient before an abortion could take place, and that abortion on demand would not happen? Is he aware that if Parliament had known that abortions would occur because the coming child was a girl when the mother wanted a boy, the Act would not have gone through? Did he note the Government’s Care Quality Commission’s findings that some doctors who have never even seen the patient are signing blank forms and leaving them in a handy place for use by colleagues, while others are aborting girl babies unwanted by the mother for no medical reason at all? What is being done to stop these illegal acts?

[Earl Howe]

My Lords, my noble friend raises some extremely important questions. The House will remember that reports came to light in February of pre-signing of the HSA1 forms—the approval forms that have to be signed by two doctors—and the CQC carried out a serious of unannounced inspections of all abortion providers in the light of that story to uncover any evidence of pre-signing. As a result, 14 NHS trusts were found to be non-compliant and clear evidence of pre-signing was identified. We await the outcome of investigations by the Metropolitan Police on that issue. Of course, as a department, we take it very seriously indeed.

On the issue of sex selection, my noble friend is absolutely right. The Act stipulates specific circumstances in which termination of pregnancy is permitted. Gender selection is not one of those circumstances. It is illegal for a practitioner to carry out an abortion for that reason alone, unless the certifying practitioners consider that an abortion is justified in relation to at least one of the Section 1(1) grounds in the 1967 Act. My noble friend will also be pleased to know that the Chief Medical Officer for England has written to all clinics and hospitals undertaking abortions to remind them of the provisions of the Abortion Act.