Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, with reference to the recent release of Abortion Statistics for England and Wales 2018 showing that at least 15 unborn babies were terminated due to a cleft palate or cleft lip, if he will make an assessment of the effectiveness of the advice issued to women with unborn children diagnosed with that condition on the procedure to remedy it.

The decision to terminate a pregnancy must rest on the judgement of two doctors, who have to be of one and the same opinion that an abortion meets one of the grounds set out in the Abortion Act 1967, and the woman herself, who must be given enough information and time to help her understand the process so that she can make an informed decision about the options available. When an abnormality is detected or suspected, women and their partners should receive appropriate information and support from a properly trained multidisciplinary team – who must adopt a supportive and non-judgemental approach regardless of whether the decision is to terminate or continue the pregnancy.

Diagnosis or prognosis does not always tell the whole picture of each individual case. In 1990, when the grounds for abortion where amended, Parliament agreed that doctors were best placed to make these decisions with the woman and her family. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has published guidance on ‘Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality in England, Scotland and Wales’ to assist doctors and other health professionals to support women and their families when a fetal abnormality is diagnosed and to help women to decide, within the bounds of the law, whether or not to have an abortion.