§ Lord Alton of Liverpoolasked Her Majesty's Government:
How many pregnancies arising out of licensed fertility treatment have been selectively terminated in each of the past five years; at what stage of gestation was each pregnancy terminated; and on what ground of the Abortion Act 1967 (as amended) was each abortion performed. [HL2146]
§ Baroness AndrewsInformation on whether selective terminations of pregnancy were performed following licensed fertility treatment is not collected centrally as it is not a requirement of the Abortion Regulations 1991.
Information is collected on gestation and grounds and is shown in the following table. Data are for all selective terminations performed in England and Wales in the past five years.
123WA1. Data for 2002 will be available later this year.
2. The grounds under the Act are as follows:
Section 1(1)(a) that the pregnancy has not exceeded its twenty-fourth week and that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated, of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family; or
Section 1(1)(b) that the termination is necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman; or
Section 1(1)(c) that the continuance of the pregnancy would involve risk to the life of the pregnant woman, greater than if the pregnancy were terminated; or
Section 1(1)(d) that there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped.