ABORTIONS (Hansard, 4 April 1979)

asked Her Majesty's Government:

Whether they are aware of the report (in the Sunday People of 4th March 1981WA 1979) of the situation at Wanstead Hospital, where an aborted foetus was seen to move and cry before it died; and whether they can state

(a) if this was in fact the case;
(b) if so, whether it contravenes the provisions of the Infant Life Prevention Act 1929, which provides that it is an offence for a baby to be destroyed having been capable of being born alive;
(c) how many instances there have been of foetuses which can move and cry, dying in circumstances which cannot he reported or seen by the general public; and

Whether they can confirm the report in the Medical News of 28th February 1979 that the Warwickshire Area Health Authority may contract abortions to clinics in the private sector; whether they agree with this proposal, and what is the estimated cost per patient to the National Health Service; and

Whether under the provisions of the Infant Life Protection Act 1929 it is an offence for foetuses to be destroyed which were capable of being born alive; and

Whether there is liability for prosecution in cases in which a foetus, when it leaves the womb, is not given all possible assistance to preserve its life, including protection from experiments for purposes of research; and

Whether they can give the number of living foetuses used annually for research and other purposes, and state what these purposes are; and

Whether they would permit similar arrangements to those proposed by the Warwickshire Area Health Authority for abortions involving healthy women with healthy foetuses in private clinics, to be provided for unhealthy women who have been on National Health Service waiting lists for considerable periods, thus suffering deferral of operations for painful and debilitating conditions; and

What is the annual cost to the Exchequer of the total number of abortions performed in National Health Service hospitals; and

What is the annual cost of treating in National Health Service hospitals 1982WA patients admitted thereto suffering from infection haemorrhage and other complications resulting from abortions performed in the private sector.