Oral Answers to Questions

Jackie Doyle-Price Excerpts

Thursday 28th June 2018 Commons Chamber

[Maria Caulfield (Lewes) (Con)]

T3. Given that it is illegal in the United Kingdom to select an embryo during IVF on the basis of gender, apart from those affected by rare genetic conditions, what plans do the Government have to make sex-selective abortions illegal in the UK?

[The Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Health and Social Care (Jackie Doyle-Price)]

I thank my hon. Friend for her question, because it gives me the opportunity to say that sex selection is not one of the lawful grounds for termination of a pregnancy. Indeed, it is illegal for a practitioner to carry out an abortion for that reason alone. The only circumstances in which sex-selective abortions would be permitted are where there is a gender-linked inherited medical condition.

[Mr Paul Sweeney (Glasgow North East) (Lab/Co-op)]

T4. What is the Minister doing to ensure that grants for the more than 100 disabled workers at the Royal Strathclyde Blindcraft Industries in my constituency are protected?