Next week the ProLife Alliance expects to receive from the Department of Health (DoH) withheld statistics relating to abortions for abnormality. We won access to this data following a high profile court case under the Freedom of Information Act, when the Information Tribunal ruled in our favour mid October this year. The DoH could still appeal the decision, however, and has until November 11 to decide.

If we obtain this missing information, it will clearly be a step in the right direction but must be followed up by genuine disclosure and transparency in relation to all abortion statistics.

The most significant aspect of the Tribunal Decision is not so much the ruling re the disclosure of statistics as the damning assessment of the Department of Health’s failure to regulate abortion.

The Department bears the full burden of enforcing abortion laws in this country, yet the Tribunal highlights the absence of any mechanism for rigorous scrutiny of abortion referral forms, with no audit, spot checks, outside opinion or quality control of the basis for the terminations. It expressed particular concern that decisions were not scrutinised clinically or substantively and that no witnesses were able to point to a case where the diagnosis of a certifying doctor had ever been checked by the Department of Health.

The ProLife Alliance will continue to campaign in defence of the absolute right to life of the unborn, and reiterates its opposition to all abortions. But at the very least, we argue, there should be robust mechanisms in place which ensure conformity with the existing requirements of the Abortion Act.

This is an issue which all pro-life groups should be concerned about and we recommend that you read the full Judgment.

Share/Save