Reporting Of Reasons For Abortion

EDM number 1050 in 2012-13, proposed by Jim Dobbin on 06/02/2013.
Categorised under the topics of Health services and Medical ethics.

That this House, in acknowledging that there is a wide range of different but sincerely held views on the issue of abortion law, nevertheless unites in registering its profound shock at the recent research by Eurocat which has found substantial misreporting by doctors and licensed abortion clinics of the real reasons why abortions are being performed; notes the conclusion of the research that between 2006 and 2010, based upon evidence from foetal medicine specialists, ultrasonographers and genetic testing, that 157 babies had been aborted in England and Wales for cleft lip and palate, but that official records count only 14 such abortions; further notes that Eurocat found that over the same period there were 205 abortions for club foot but that the Department of Health records show only five in 2002, the latest year for which figures are available; further notes that in 2010 there were in fact 886 abortions of Down's Syndrome babies, only 482 of which are recorded by the Department; believes that regardless of the ethics of abortion itself all right hon. and hon. Members will be profoundly concerned to receive yet further evidence of widespread criminal misreporting of the grounds for abortion; and calls on the Secretary of State, licensing authorities, the General Medical Council and, where appropriate, the police and Crown Prosecution Service to take immediate action to ensure that the law is upheld and that those who break it are prosecuted.

This motion has been signed by a total of 12 MPs.