Medic guidance came from abortion clinic
ABORTION guidance from a Royal College telling medics not to report illegal terminations was written by a Marie Stopes director.
Jonathan Lord, the doctor behind the new guidance, which says healthcare professionals will face “fitness-to-practise proceedings” unless they can “justify disclosure of confidential patient information” to the police, was appointed as a medical director of the global abortion clinic in 2020.
MSI Reproductive Choices, formerly Marie Stopes International, operates in 37 countries around the world, and provides abortion services in the UK on the NHS and privately.
Dr Jonathan Lord is the medical director at MSI and co-chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) Abortion Taskforce, which “drew up” the guidance, he told the BBC. Campaign group Right To Life UK said there was a “clear conflict of interest” because Dr Lord, who is also co-chair of the British Society of Abortion Care Providers, was “pushing for reduced legal oversight into an area in which he has a significant stake”.
Catherine Robinson, of Right To Life UK, also called for “an urgent inquiry”. “It is deeply inappropriate for the RCOG to usurp Parliament by issuing guidance related to criminal investigations.
Where a crime is suspected of being committed, it is the role of the legal system to determine whether or not a crime took place and whether or not it is in the public interest to prosecute,” she said.
She added that “in-person medical appointments” should be reinstated to end the “pills-by-post” scheme, which is increasing late-term abortions.
Dr Lord was also condemned by the Court of Appeal last year for an “inappropriate” letter to the judge seeking mitigation during the case of Carla Foster, convicted of an illegal abortion using the “pills by post” scheme introduced during the pandemic.
The scheme allowed women up to 10 weeks pregnant to obtain the pills through a remote consultation, but Ms Foster was between 32 and 34 weeks.
It is illegal to self-terminate a pregnancy after 24 weeks. There are two proposed bill amendments to decriminalise abortions beyond 24 weeks, likely to be debated by the Criminal Justice Bill Committee today.