Question to the Department of Health and Social Care:

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has made an assessment of the factors involved in decisions to terminate a pregnancy following a diagnosis of Down's Syndrome.

No specific assessment has made of the factors involved in decisions to terminate a pregnancy following a diagnosis of Down's Syndrome. Under the 1967 Abortion Act, abortion is legally available where two doctors agree that ‘there is a substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities to be seriously handicapped’. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has published guidance on Termination of Pregnancy for Fetal Abnormality in England, Scotland and Wales, which can be viewed online at the following link:

https://www.rcog.org.uk/en/guidelines-research-services/guidelines/termination-of-pregnancy-for-fetal-abnormality-in-england-scotland-and-wales/

This guidance assists doctors and other health professionals to support women and their families when a fetal abnormality is diagnosed and to help women to decide, within the bounds of the law, whether or not to have an abortion.