Prosecutors accused of double standards over abortion on grounds of gender

The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) says it will not prosecute the two doctors who told a mother that they were willing to abort her unborn child because of its gender. The mother (in reality, a journalist) had told the abortionists that she did not want a little girl. The doctors then agreed to carry out these illegal abortions. The exchanges were recorded, David Alton writes

The CPS says it won’t prosecute because the issue is “sensitive”, “political” and “not in the public interest.” The former Director of Public Prosecutions, Lord Macdonald, has rightly challenged this decision as “very dubious” saying that it is wrong to protect professionals from prosecution, “undermining the principle that everyone is equal under the law.”

The CPS also made the extraordinary claim that it “is up to doctors “to interpret the law” and that they have “wide discretion.” This is clearly not the case where gender abortions are concerned. This is not a legal (let alone ethical) ground for carrying out an abortion. Since when did we give doctors the right to interpret something which Parliament has expressly forbidden?

It is equally extraordinary that without recourse to Parliament an unelected official has, by fiat, effectively legalised gender abortions. If that isn’t a “political” decision it is hard to imagine what is. Rightly, the Labour Shadow Attorney General, Emily Thornberry, and the Health Secretary, Jeremy Hunt, have challenged this.

To read Lord Alton's column see: http://davidalton.net/2013/09/06/the-abortion-of-baby-girls-and-the-public-interest/

Read SPUC's statement here: www.spuc.org.uk/news/releases/2013/Sept05