18 Week Limit For Abortion

EDM number 874 in 2004-05, proposed by Geraldine Smith on 09/03/2005.

That this House notes the report in the journal of Obstetrics and Gynaecology (Vol.25.No.1200) of the survival of a 24 week infant following repeated abortion attempts; further notes that the 24-year-old mother opted for abortion because she had a 19-month old infant and felt unable to cope with a second child; further notes that on the fourth day in the BPAS abortion clinic she was informed that the baby was dead and discharged with instructions to return four days later; further notes that during the three hour train journey home she changed her mind when she felt foetal movements and when admitted to hospital as an emergency insisted that her baby boy be resuscitated although warned of his poor prognosis; further notes that the baby required intensive treatment and could not be discharged until he was seven months old and still needed special care; regrets the self-evident and lamentable lack of counselling given to the mother before the abortion attempts; further notes the comment in the medical journal that the number of infants who survive late abortions is not known because `there is no official mechanism by which to report such cases'; and the further comment that `the dilemma of being telephoned about an infant born, showing signs of life following termination of pregnancy is one that many paediatricians have faced'; and calls on the Government immediately to limit licences for abortions after the 18th week of pregnancy to NHS hospitals where greater controls on counselling and care can be maintained.

This motion has been signed by a total of 25 MPs.