Parliamentary inquiry into abortion 'conscience clause'

A parliamentary inquiry is to be held to assess whether healthcare professionals who do not wish to participate in the provision of abortions are given adequate protection.

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A parliamentary inquiry is to be held to assess whether healthcare professionals who do not wish to participate in the provision of abortions are given adequate protection.

Under the 1967 Abortion Act, individuals have a right not to participate in the provision of abortion if they have a conscientious objection to it.

Commonly known as the Conscience Clause, it states that: "no person shall be under any duty, whether by contract or by any statutory or other legal requirement, to participate in any treatment authorised by this Act to which he [or she] has a conscientious objection".

Protection

However, concerns have been raised in recent years over the level of protection in place and what constitutes as ‘direct involvement’ in abortion.

In December 2014, two Scottish midwives seeking exemption from any involvement in abortion lost their landmark case at the UK’s Supreme Court,despite an appeal court in Scotland previously ruling in their favour.

Both the UK’s largest abortion provider, BPAS, and the Royal College of Midwives were supportive of the Supreme Court’s decision, claiming in a joint statement that if the Midwives had won:

"It will require all professional guidance to be rewritten and will enable a tiny number of staff opposed to abortion to make women's care undeliverable in some NHS settings in the UK."

Call for evidence

Conservative MP Fiona Bruce, who will chair the inquiry, has put out a call for evidence to:

Assess the extent to which the Conscience Clause provides adequate protection for doctors who do not wish to participate, directly or indirectly, in the provision of abortions;
Assess the extent to which the Conscience Clause provides adequate protection for other health professionals who do not wish to participate, directly or indirectly, in the provision of abortions;
Examine how freedom of conscience in the law and professional guidance can be developed for healthcare professionals going forward.

If you have any experience in any of the above, please respond to the inquiry by 5pm on 11th July 2016.

Submissions can be made in the following three ways:

Online: From the bottom of the Conscience Inquiry website.
Email: By sending your submission to submissions@conscienceinquiry.uk. If you wish to make a submission following the template layout, you can download the submission template from here and email the completed document as an attachment.
In writing – please send your submission to the following address:

Fiona Bruce MP
House of Commons
London, SW1A 0AA

Please note that there is a limit of 500 words maximum per question. All evidence will be made public once the report has been published. Please indicate if you wish your evidence to be anonymous.