Illegal Abortions: Jeremy Hunt Wants Action

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has demanded to know why two doctors accused of arranging abortions based on the sex of the unborn baby will not face prosecution.

Doctors were secretly filmed agreeing to terminate pregnancies because the baby was either male of female as part of a Daily Telegraph investigation.

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) decided there was enough evidence to pursue a prosecution but considered it was not in the public interest.

It said the General Medical Council (GMC) was already involved in the case and could strike doctors off the register.

Mr Hunt has now written to the Government's senior law officer, Attorney General Dominic Grieve, to ask why no action has been taken.

The Tory minister said abortion on the grounds of gender selection was "against the law and completely unacceptable".

"This is a concerning development and I have written to the Attorney General to ask for urgent clarification on the grounds for this decision," he said.

As part of the undercover investigation, a pregnant woman acting on behalf of a journalist said she wanted an abortion because she did not want to give birth to a girl.

The sting led to allegations against two doctors in Birmingham and Manchester.

Jenny Hopkins, the deputy chief crown prosecutor for CPS London, said the fact that the abortions had not actually taken place influenced the decision not to proceed with a prosecution.

She said: "The Abortion Act 1967 allows for an abortion in a limited range of circumstances but not purely on the basis of not wanting a child of a specific gender.

"While the abortions did not take place, attempting to commit a criminal offence - that is, doing something that goes further than just preparing to commit it - is also a crime in its own right under the Criminal Attempts Act 1981.

"Having carefully considered the evidence, we have concluded that although the case is not straightforward, on balance there is enough evidence to justify bringing proceedings for an attempt. Accordingly, we have considered whether a prosecution is required in the public interest.

"One highly relevant factor in this regard is that the responsible professional body, in this case the General Medical Council, is already involved and has the power to remove doctors from the medical register.

"Taking into account the need for professional judgement which deals firmly with wrongdoing, while not deterring other doctors from carrying out legitimate and medically justified abortions, we have concluded that the cases would be better dealt with by the GMC rather than by prosecution.

"In coming to this conclusion, we have also taken into account that in these cases no abortion took place or would have taken place."

Director of Public Prosecutions Keir Starmer said it was "a very difficult and finely balanced decision", and pledged to reveal more about why the conclusion was reached in due course.

The GMC has confirmed it is investigating the two doctors, who are the subject of various conditions while the case continues.

These include a ban on authorising or carrying out abortions.