MPs have urged the Health Secretary to close an abortion loophole that allows grooming gangs to hide their sexual abuse of children.
In light of the recent media coverage surrounding the grooming gangs, MPs have written to Wes Streeting explaining that, in cases in which grooming gang victims aged 15 or younger have become pregnant, these crimes can more easily be hidden because there is no requirement for abortion providers to notify a parent or guardian before performing an abortion on a child.
As the law currently stands, if a girl aged 15 or younger has an abortion, there is no requirement for the medical professionals involved with the abortion to notify either the girl’s parents or a guardian. Parents have no legal right to be informed or consulted before their child has an abortion.
In the letter to the Health Secretary, Carla Lockhart MP explained that some of the victims of grooming gangs, aged 15 or younger, had been pressured into abortions with “little to no emotional support from those who care about them most”.
She said “Without doubt, the legal status quo also made it far easier for the vile individuals behind these crimes to conceal the evil they have inflicted on these vulnerable girls”.
“If there were a legal requirement for parental notification, then it is far more likely questions would have been asked potentially leading to the discovery of these heinous crimes at an earlier stage”.
In one case in Rochdale, a 13-year-old had an abortion in a hospital in an attempt to cover up the abuse. In another case in Oxford, a 12-year-old girl was repeatedly raped and made to have a back-room abortion after falling pregnant.
Father of the House and former minister, Sir Edward Leigh MP, said “It is difficult to find words to fully capture the extent of the horror that was visited upon some of the most vulnerable people in our society as a result of the grooming gangs scandal”.
“This has been an appalling failure and it is some relief that a spotlight is now being shone on it. It is also clear that the current abortion laws made it far easier to conceal these crimes. They should be revisited urgently to prevent further catastrophes on this scale”.
Commenting on the letter, former MP and co-chair of the New Conservatives group Miriam Cates said “As a child under 16 cannot legally consent to sex, there is a high chance that the pregnant girl has been abused. Parents absolutely must be informed if there’s a suspicion that their child is being abused. How can that child possibly be kept safe if they are not?”
Strong public backlash
There was also strong public backlash after a plotline on Coronation Street revealed that a 14-year-old character was able to get a secret abortion without her parent’s knowledge.
Members of the public were shocked to find out that the plotline reflected the current law where there is no requirement for abortion providers to notify a parent or guardian ahead of performing an abortion.
Changing the law in this area would bring the UK into line with other European countries such as Portugal, Italy and Spain, which have more robust requirements in regard to parental notification when it comes to girls aged 15 and under having abortions.
Polling on this issue has shown that there is significant support for a change in the law. The polling found that 70% of parents agree parental or guardian consent should be required for girls aged 15 or under to undergo an abortion.
Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said “It’s baffling that the current law includes no requirement for medical professionals to refer abortions of minors to parents”.
“Without doubt, this enables abuse to go undetected and would have made it easier for the perpetrators of the appalling crimes that have recently been in the spotlight, to conceal the crimes they carried out so brazenly”.
