British doctors were told not to report illegal abortions to the police
Medical staff in Britain should not report women to police if they believe their patients have illegally terminated their own pregnancies, a professional body says.
New guidance from the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG) will say it is never in the public interest to report women having abortions to law enforcement authorities. according to the BBC.
By law, patient data may not be made public without their consent. Health professionals can only breach confidentiality rules by providing information to the police about possible crimes if this is considered in the public interest.
Since 2022, at least six women have been taken to court and dozens of women have been investigated for allegedly terminating their pregnancies outside the legal requirements for abortion. Three women have been prosecuted in the past twenty years.
Abortions in England must be performed by a registered doctor and take place within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Otherwise, it is illegal to intentionally terminate a pregnancy and carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment under the Offenses Against the Person Act 1861.
The RCOG said it is concerned about the increase in the number of prosecutions involving “deeply traumatized” and vulnerable women.
The official guidance states that healthcare professionals must justify any disclosure of patient data or face “potential fitness to practice proceedings”.
Jonathan Lord, the RCOG’s medical director, told the BBC: “A law originally intended to protect a woman is now being used against her.
“We have witnessed life-changing harm to women and their families as a direct result of NHS workers reporting women suspected of crimes, and we simply don’t think this would happen in other areas of healthcare.
“We are dealing with the most vulnerable groups who may be concerned about transitioning to regulated healthcare, and we want them to trust us.”
Lord said the council’s main concern was the sharp increase in the number of women being investigated. He said: “Although the numbers are hard to come by, those who end up in court are at the very tip of the iceberg…
“And for everyone who ends up in court, there is a much larger number that are being investigated, and it is those investigations that have really caused the harm to women and their families.
“It’s also so deeply traumatic if you’ve suffered a pregnancy loss or had a natural miscarriage, whether that was through abortion care or just something natural, to then be faced with suspicion and investigation, and to know that your name would be very public can be. you could go to jail is just very disturbing.
Lord said he believed some NHS staff had shared information with police because they were unaware of confidentiality rules, and that the new guidance was intended to remind them of their obligations.
Many women studied had in fact had a late miscarriage, or had been later in their pregnancies than they had realized when they had the termination, he said.
Recent prosecutions include that of Carla Fosterwho was imprisoned for having her own abortion in 2020. Last year she was released from prison after an appeal. Bethany Cox, from Teesside, was acquitted of the same charge earlier this month. This year, three more women accused of illegal abortions will appear in court.
The Crown Prosecution Service told the BBC that such cases were rare and were handled sensitively, but that it had a duty to ensure the law was followed.
Britain’s Pregnancy Advisory Service and other women’s rights activists have long argued that women who terminate pregnancies after exceeding the legal limit are in crisis and that abortion should be regulated but decriminalized. They claim that the rest of Britain is out of step with Northern Ireland, true 2019 law legalizes abortion established a moratorium on abortion-related criminal charges.