Gender of baby ‘can be legal ground for abortion’

The boss of the nation’s largest abortion charity said women are legally free to terminate pregnancies if they are unhappy with the sex of their baby.

A doctor agreeing to an abortion on the grounds of gender would be “breaking the law no more and no less” than a doctor performing the procedure on a rape victim, Ann Furedi said.

Mrs Furedi, chief executive of British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) drew fire and praise from pro-life campaigners who said abortion laws are so wide doctors can virtually justify any reason a woman gives.

In an article, she said a woman wanting a boy rather than a girl “seems” consumerist and unethical. And she hit out telling people they cannot be pro-choice “except when you don’t like the choice”.

Mrs Furedi, writing on the Spiked website, said if doctors decide going through with a pregnancy will damage the expectant mother’s mental health, then abortion is within the law.

She said: “A doctor agreeing to an abortion ‘on grounds of rape’ would be breaking the law no more and no less than a doctor who agrees an abortion on grounds of sex selection.

“While it is true that the sex of the foetus is not a legal ground for abortion, nor is rape, or incest, or being 13 years old.

“None of these is grounds for abortion per se – yet they are all reasons why a doctor may believe a woman has met the legal grounds of abortion.”

Doctors sign a legal document to confirm that their honest belief is continuation of pregnancy is likely to damage the woman’s mental or physical health.

“Sex selection, like rape, may not be a ground for abortion, but there is no legal requirement to deny a woman an abortion if she has a sex preference, providing that the legal grounds are still met,” Mrs Furedi wrote.

“The big difference is this: most people who think of themselves as liberal and modern-thinking believe that rape, incest, youth, poverty or even general ‘unwantedness’ are ‘good reasons’ for doctors to approve abortion; and they think ‘sex selection’ is a bad reason, which should be stopped.

“We either support women’s capacity to decide, or we don’t. You can’t be pro-choice except when you don’t like the choice, because that’s not pro-choice at all.”

Last year there were 185,122 abortions in England and Wales. BPAS carries out more than 55,000 abortions a year as well as counselling women and men.