British Parliament members voted overwhelmingly in favor of a motion that declared sex-selection abortions as illegal, The Telegraph reported. With MPs voting 181 to 1 on the controversial issue on Tuesday, a second reading will take place in January.
The vote comes after a cross-party alliance of MPs brought forward a motion demanding the law to be dictated in a more clear and definite manner on the issue of whether doctors can be criminally prosecuted for choosing to carry out an abortion while being informed of the unborn baby's gender.
Confusion and uncertainty over the law began last year when much-criticized prosecutor Sir Keir Starmer, the former Director of Public Prosecutions, refused to take action and file charges against two doctors who had been caught in an undercover investigation agreeing to arrange female baby abortions for sex-selective purposes, according to a Telegraph investigation, Irish Independent reported.
Citing the British law, Starmer had stated that it did not specifically prohibit gender-selection abortions, further claiming that doctors have "wide discretion in assessing whether continuing the pregnancy could threaten the physical or mental health of the mother or her existing children."
After the investigation was passed on to the Crown Prosecution Service by Scotland Yard, the agency concluded that charging the doctors was not in the "public's interest" despite possessing enough evidence to prosecute them, according to LifeNews.com.
Fiona Bruce, the Conservative MP who was behind the effort to ban-sex-selection abortions, said pregnant women were not being properly informed by Britain's biggest abortion provider about the illegality of gender-based terminations.
"It is a shame that this clarification is needed. Successive health minsters and even the Prime Minister have been very clear they state that abortion for reasons of gender alone is illegal. The Prime Minister has described the practice as appalling but they are being ignored," Bruce told the House of Commons.
"The British Pregnancy Advisory Service which provides around 60,000 abortions a year flatly disagrees. Even today they are advising women in one of their leaflets and on their website that abortion for reasons of fetal sex is not illegal because the law is silent on the matter."
"The British Medical Association holds yet another interpretation. They argue that having a child of a particular gender may be a legal and ethical justification for an abortion on the basis that the sex of the child may severely affect the pregnant woman's mental health," she said.
Additionally, campaigners believe the abortion act should also provide protection for women who might face violent pressure from partners to have a male child, according to The Telegraph.
"I find it deplorable that anyone would be satisfied to provide a sex selective abortion to a woman who after she has had it is then sent afterwards back to an abusive partner. What needs to be addressed in these dire circumstances is the abuse itself. That is one of the aims of this bill."
Meanwhile, four out of five adults support the prosecution of doctors who authorize "gender-abortion," according to a new opinion poll, commissioned by Christian Concern and published over the weekend.
About 80 percent of British adult voters agreed that "where it can be proved that an abortion was authorized on grounds of the baby's gender, the doctor authorizing that abortion should be prosecuted."
