HL Deb 02 March 1987 vol 485 cc509-10WA
Lord Kennet

asked Her Majesty's Government:

What consideration was given to the recommendation of the Peel Report of 1972, "that for human foetuses evidence of a period of gestation of twenty weeks … should be regarded as prima facie proof of viability at the present time" and that the Acts providing for registration and notification of births and deaths should accordingly be amended (paragraph 31).

Baroness Trumpington

The Peel Report was concerned primarily with the use of foetuses and foetal material for research. The question of foetal viability was subsequently considered in a wider context by the Lane Committee on the Working of the Abortion Act and by a representative committee of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and other medical and midwifery professional bodies in its Report on Fetal Viability and Clinical Practice in August 1985. No action has been taken to amend the Acts providing for registration and notification of births and deaths.