The Telegraph reported in an article on March 22nd that one in five abortion clinics in the UK is suspected of breaking the law and faces a police inquiry following an official investigation ordered by the Health Secretary.
The regulator according to the report conducted a series of unannounced raids on every clinic offering abortions this week and found that a “shocking” number may be breaking the law.
The Daily Telegraph understands that more than 250 private and NHS clinics were visited and more than 50 were “not in compliance” with the law or regulations. Doctors were regularly falsifying consent forms and patients were not receiving acceptable levels of advice and counselling in many clinics, the Care Quality Commission (CQC) discovered.
Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, said he was “shocked” by the findings of the CQC’s audit and was preparing to report doctors and organisations to the police. Many clinics may be stripped of the licences that allow them to offer abortions.
Mr Lansley they report is understood to be preparing an urgent statement to Parliament on the scandal.
In a further article on March 23rd the Telegraph reports :
Most clinics were visited by the much-maligned Care Quality Commission (CQC) once every few years and a culture of “abortions on demand” appeared to have been introduced by some doctors.
However, this culture seems to have been brought to an end when Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, who was shocked by what he read in this newspaper, ordered the regulator into action. Enforcement officers from the watchdog visited every clinic in Britain and their findings are raising serious concern at the highest levels of government.
Today’s disclosures about the potentially high levels of criminal activity in abortion clinics came several months after this newspaper was tipped off that some doctors were illicitly offering sex-selective abortions. Paperwork was allegedly being forged.
Earlier this year, four pregnant women of different ethnic backgrounds, accompanied by undercover reporters, travelled around the country to appointments at abortion clinics.
At each organisation, the pregnant woman explained that she wanted an abortion because of the gender of the foetus. Some clinics refused to help her, saying it was illegal to arrange an abortion for this reason. Others were willing to help.
