SEX - SELECTIVE AND ON-DEMAND ABORTION

Early day motion 1121, tabled 28 March 2017 by Rob Flello (Labour). Signed by 14 members.

That this House is shocked by comments made by Wendy Savage, member of the British Medical Association's (BMA) Medical Ethics Committee, that sex-selective abortion should be legal and that abortion should be available on-demand, right up-to-birth; notes with serious concern that Wendy Savage has also dismissed the personal testimony of women who have been coerced into sex­-selective abortions in the UK as myth; recognises that Wendy Savage is behind a move to encourage the membership of the BMA to back a policy calling for abortion to be decriminalised, having submitted a successful motion at last year's BMA annual representative meeting seeking such a policy; further notes that such a legislative change would likely remove any current legal safeguards against sex-selective abortion and allow for abortion to be available on-demand, up-to-birth; notes that UK polling in 2012 showed that only two per cent of women wanted the abortion time limit to be extended to more than 24 weeks, let alone up-to-birth; and calls for the immediate resignation of Wendy Savage in the interests of the reputation of the BMA.

Signatures by party: Conservative 4, DUP 4, Labour 3, Social Democratic and Labour Party 3.