By Dr. Peter Saunders
Editor’s note. Dr. Saunders is a former general surgeon and CEO of Christian Medical Fellowship, a UK-based organization with 4,500 UK doctors and 1,000 medical students as members.
Dr. Peter Saunders
Fourteen NHS abortion clinics have broken the law by allowing doctors to pre-sign forms authorising a termination, according to the health service regulator in England.
This is in breach of the Abortion Act, and allows the second doctor to take a solo decision to allow a termination.
The breaches were uncovered in an investigation ordered by Health Secretary Andrew Lansley who asked the CQC [Care Quality Commission] to investigate whether the practice, first identified in January, was widespread.
The Abortion Act 1967 requires a form (HSA1) certifying that the requirements for a termination have been met to be signed by two doctors before the procedure takes place.
The story has been covered by the Telegraph, Daily Mail and Guardian which give more details.
I have pasted the full ministerial statement below along with the list of NHS Trusts involved. It makes it very clear that the police are now involved.
Sadly the response of both the Labour Party and abortion providers to all this has been openly contemptuous.
Abortion is still a crime unless it is carried out under the provisions of the Abortion Act and the reason two doctors signatures are involved is because abortion involves the taking of a human life.
Clearly in the case of these 14 NHS abortion clinics at least one named doctor has put his or her signature to statutory documents knowingly and wilfully making false claims.
This is a form of perjury (see below).
The CQC must already have the doctors’ names (as their signatures will be on these forms) so the police should also have them very shortly.
If the law is being properly upheld then, on the basis of the facts presented in the media, it would seem the next thing we should expect to hear is that at least 14 doctors are being prosecuted for perjury.
I wonder if we will.
[Dr. Saunders concludes by citing the law on perjury and the written statement from the Department of Health]
Editor’s note. This appears on Dr. Saunders’ blog.