Scores of doctors who approved abortions without knowing anything about the women have been let off the hook, it has been revealed.
In 2012, an investigation by the Care Quality Commission found that dozens of doctors illegally signed blank abortion consent forms.
Despite all 67 doctors being referred to the General Medical Council (GMC), none of them were brought before a Fitness to Practise Panel to face disciplinary action, a Freedom of Information request has established.
Prosecution
Health minister Lord Howe told Parliament “that forms being pre-signed is a clear breach of the law and if it is found to be happening, a prosecution should be brought”.
Under current abortion laws two registered medical practitioners must certify that they are of the opinion, formed in good faith that at least one of the legal grounds for abortion exists.
The revelations follow Freedom of Information requests reportedly placed by the Daily Mail.
Shame
MP Jim Dobbin said: “This is clear evidence of the abortion-on-demand culture throughout the medical establishment.
“Sixty-seven doctors happily referred for abortions without knowing a single thing about the woman requesting them. Worse, at the very top, senior doctors and lawyers at the GMC decided to keep these crimes to themselves. This shames the GMC and makes a mockery of the Abortion Act.”
MP and parliamentary chairman of the Conservative Christian Fellowship David Burrowes added: “There is something frightening about this.”
“It says something about how sinister and unaccountable abortion practice in the UK has become that such a large number of doctors could brazenly break the law and the most senior medical establishment in the land omit to refer their crimes to the police.”
Risk
A poll commissioned by The Christian Institute shows that nearly nine in ten voters think that a patient considering an abortion should be seen in person by a doctor.
Of the 2000 people surveyed 76 per cent believe that not doing so would put the woman’s health at risk.
The proportion of voters who think that doctors should see patients wanting an abortion rises to 92 per cent among women.
Almost six in ten think that the two doctor requirement should be more rigorously enforced in privately-run clinics than in NHS clinics.