BBC provides abortion information following Call The Midwife row

THE BBC has bowed to pressure to provide viewers with information about abortion after being criticised following a row sparked by an episode of Call The Midwife.

Concerns were raised following an episode of the BBC One programme on February 3, which dealt with a backstreet abortion.

No advice was then offered to viewers on the broadcaster’s Action Line.

Medical professionals wrote to the BBC with concerns and prochoice charity British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) claimed the BBC was mistakenly treating abortion as a fraught political matter, stigmatising the medical professionals involved.

The Action Line page now refers to information about abortion, with the BBC saying it reit flects different legal frameworks in the UK.

A spokesperson said: “There continues to be debate about abortion in the UK.

“The Abortion Act 1967 reformed the law relating to abortion but does not apply in Northern Ireland, where the framework for abortion therefore differs from other parts of UK.

“Given these differences we have added a direct link to the relevant NHS page, which has information on abortion for England, Scotland and Wales. As with some other widely debated issues, the Action Line does not link to all organisations.”

BPAS previously claimed that by treating abortion as a political rather than medical issue, the corporation had already become partisan.

The BBC responded by saying could not refer viewers to help without sending them to organisations that “take a particular stance” on abortion, something it could not do given the contentious nature of the issue.

In a later statement, the BBC said that response did not “characterise our position correctly, but we have updated the website to provide a link now”. Penny Mordaunt (above), the women and equalities minister, and Jackie Doyle-Price, a health minister, also wrote last week to the BBC to complain.

A BBC spokesperson said it had added the links before it had become aware of any letter from MPs.

An anti-abortion group, Right To Life UK, said the BBC had “given in” to the tactics of “abortion pressure groups to further skew their coverage”.