The Public Health Minister, Jane Ellison MP, said in late February that the Government will publish more detailed guidance shortly which will include a restatement of the Government’s view that abortion on the grounds of gender alone is unlawful.
The minister was also asked in a written parliamentary question how she plans to address the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) advice that the law is silent on the matter of gender-selective abortions and that the practice is not illegal.
Referral to the police
Ms Ellison noted in her response that, although the Abortion Act 1967 does not specifically mention gender abortions, the Government is clear that abortion on the grounds of gender alone ‘does not meet the criteria set out in the Act’. Evidence of doctors or organisations sanctioning abortions solely for that reason would result in their referral to the police.
Conservative MP Nadine Dorries noted, in a question to Ms Ellison, that the Government commissions abortion services from the BPAS and from Marie Stopes International but, while the latter organisation has stated it will not perform abortions on the basis of sex selection, the chief executive of the BPAS ‘condones sex-selection abortions’. Ms Dorries asked if the minister would therefore take a closer look at the BPAS. Ms Ellison reiterated that guidance will be reissued clarifying the Government’s view that gender-selection abortions are illegal and will be reported to police if evidence of the practice emerges.
