The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) this week threatened to use punitive measures against doctors who report late-term abortions to the police.
Normally, medics have to respect patient confidentiality, but they can report individuals if it’s in the public interest. But now the college is saying in its latest guidance that any medic who reports their concerns to police must ‘justify’ the disclosure of patient data or else could face ‘fitness to practise’ investigations. The RCOG’s president Dr Ranee Thakar said it’s ‘never in the public interest’ to investigate or prosecute these cases.
Where a foetus is capable of surviving outside the womb, we’re talking about a very unpleasant reality
That’s plainly not true. Late-term abortions are those carried out, usually by women self-administering abortifacients, after 24 weeks’ gestation – and some, as in the case of Carla Foster, up to 34 weeks. At that point even the most egregious pro-choicers can’t really ignore the palpable reality that we’re talking about a baby here. Foster
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