Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:
To ask the Secretary of State for Health, whether he has requested that the British Pregnancy Advisory Service alter its guidance that gender-selective abortion is not illegal.
Guidance issued by the Department in May this year states the Department’s view that gender alone is not a lawful ground under the Abortion Act. The Department does not directly commission abortion services but approves independent sector places to perform abortion. All independent sector clinics, including the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), have confirmed that they will comply with the Department’s guidance and Required Standard Operating Procedures (RSOPs).