HC Deb 04 May 1971 vol 816 cc1150-1
8. Mrs. Renée Short

asked the Secretary of State for Social Services if, in view of the shortage of facilities within the National Health Service for carrying out terminations of pregnancy, indicated by the recent case dealt with by the General Medical Council, he will take steps to provide additional facilities within the National Health Service in cities such as Birmingham, Sheffield and Liverpool, where women are not being given the same advantages as women in those parts of the country providing a better service.

Sir K. Joseph

I am aware that there are regional differences in the number of abortions performed under the National Health Service, and I expect that the inquiry I announced on 23rd February will consider the reasons for them. These differences are not necessarily associated with a lack of facilities.—[Vol. 812, c. 313–18.]

Mrs. Short

Does not the number of women living in these regional hospital board areas who have to go out of their regions to get the service which is provided for them by Act of Parliament lead the right hon. Gentleman to conclude that these women are compelled to go into the private sector—about which there has been complaint recently—and to pay about £150 for the abortion to be carried out? Is there not a danger that we shall be back where we were before the Act was introduced, in that many women will be compelled to seek illegal terminations simply because they cannot get the facilities under the National Health Service? Will the Minister look at this again?

Sir K. Joseph

The decision whether to recommend or carry out an abortion in a particular case is a matter for the professional judgment of the doctor concerned, and is not necessarily related to facilities. All these questions will be within the remit of Mrs. Justice Lane's Committee, the membership of which I hope to announce shortly.

Mrs. Knight

Is my right hon. Friend aware that the Registrar-General's statistical review, published last Thursday, indicated that hundreds more abortions were carried out in Birmingham than in any other city of comparable size? Will he take no notice whatever of the request of the hon. Member for Wolverhampton, North-East (Mrs. Renée Short) as far as Birmingham is concerned?

Sir K. Joseph

My hon. Friend's supplementary question shows that this is a complicated matter with deep implications. That is why I look forward to the review by Mrs. Justice Lane's Committee.