Almost all abortions carried out in the U.K. last year could have been illegal, a pro-life charity chairman says.
In a letter to the Daily Mail, professor Jack Scarisbrick referred to the latest Department of Health statistics that show 97 percent of abortions were performed on mental health grounds.
But he pointed to evidence showing women are no more or less likely to suffer psychologically if they have an abortion than if they carry on with a pregnancy.
Question
In light of this, Scarisbrick, who is the national chairman of the pro-life charity Life, questions whether doctors who approve abortions on mental health grounds are acting “in good faith,” which is a legal obligation.
He says it appears the overwhelming majority of abortions “don’t meet the requirements of the law.”
He asks, “So, what is the Department of Health doing about it? Why has no minister for health or law officer taken any action?”
Judge
Scarisbrick highlights that just over 180,000 pregnancies were terminated last year because abortion was judged to be better for the women’s mental health than having the baby.
But the latest Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists guidelines say women with an unexpected pregnancy “are no more or less likely to suffer adverse psychological consequences if they have an abortion or continue with the pregnancy and have the baby.”
And a review published in 2011 and paid for by the Department of Health found that abortion and carrying on with an unwanted pregnancy both carried roughly an equal risk of causing mental health problems for the mother.
Comprehensive
Data from 44 studies was used in the review, and researchers said they believed it was the most comprehensive and detailed review of the mental health outcomes of abortion to date.
Scarisbrick says, “We should wake up to what the Abortion Act has done to our society.”
“Profound damage is being done to women’s minds and sometimes their bodies,” he says.
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