DPP confident over abortion decision

In a letter to Attorney General Dominic Grieve, DPP Keir Starmer QC said he was sure the decision was “properly taken and sound”.

The letter emerged as the Crown Prosecution Service published more detailed reasons for the decision not to prosecute the two doctors for attempting to procure a miscarriage unlawfully.

Last month Mr Starmer said he would make the detailed reasons public after Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt called for “urgent clarification” of the decision.

An undercover investigation by a newspaper last year involved secretly filming doctors at UK clinics agreeing to terminate foetuses because they were either male or female.

After reviewing the case, the CPS decided it would not be in the public interest to prosecute.

Mr Starmer said ultimately it was not in the public interest to prosecute the doctors, but that did not mean proceedings would not be brought in future.

“The outcome in these cases should not be taken as an indication that criminal proceedings will not be brought where an abortion is procured on gender-specific grounds,” he wrote.