Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health, what steps his Department takes to ensure the referral to the relevant authorities of terminating doctors who do not fulfil their statutory obligations to fill in HSA4 forms correctly.

The Department has recently issued a range of guidance which will help clinicians to comply with the requirements of the Abortion Act, including their obligations with regard to the completing of HSA4 forms. In addition, we are working with the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to take forward their recommendations on tackling under-reporting of abortions for fetal abnormality.