§ Sir Hugh Rossiasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) in which health board areas amniocentesis is performed with a view to recommending an abortion dependent upon the results of the tests;
(2) in which health board areas pregnant women are offered amniocentesis if they first consent to an abortion dependent on the results of the tests.
§ Mr. John MacKayAny decisions relating to the provision of antenatal screening or diagnostic measures are matters for clinical judgment in the light of circumstances of individual cases. My Department issued to health boards in June 1980 a report prepared by the National Medical Consultative Committee on antenatal screening programmes for detection of neural tube defect. The report included discussion of ethical considerations, stressing the importance of counselling as applicable to prenatal screening for all handicapping conditions.
§ Sir Hugh Rossiasked the Secretary of State for Scotland (1) what information he has to the frequency in Scotland with which (a) complications in pregnancy, (b) damage to the foetus and (c) inadvertent death of the foetus;
(2) in what percentage of cases in Scotland amniocentesis has indicated abnormalities whereas the foetuses subsequently have been found to be normal.
468W
§ Mr. John MacKayThe information requested is not available centrally.