Sex-selection abortions are tip of the iceberg

The head of the Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) has warned that abortions on the basis of sex are just the “tip of the iceberg” of illegal activity in the abortion industry.

An investigation by The Telegraph has found that staff at several clinics approved abortions for women who said they wanted the procedure because they were not happy with the baby's gender.

Health Secretary Andrew Lansley has ordered an investigation into the claims, saying that sex selection was “illegal and morally wrong”.

Writing on his blog, CMF chief executive Dr Peter Saunders said that the government and police had “turned a blind eye to gross breaches of the Abortion Act for decades”.

“The present cases raise again the question of just how many illegal abortions are being carried out in Britain,” he said.

“I have previously argued that the figure is close to 98% of all 200,000 abortions annually in Britain, on the basis that this is the percentage which are being carried out on mental health grounds when there is actually no evidence that continuing with an unplanned pregnancy poses any greater risk to mental health than abortion.”

He said that the Telegraph investigation raised “searching questions” about the Care Quality Commission, the body responsible for monitoring abortion facilities.

“This is a matter of life and death, of babies quite possibly being illegally killed,” he said.