British provider claims sex-selective abortions aren't illegal, accused of endangering women

A leading British abortion provider is facing backlash after it appeared to defend sex-selective abortions and sparked concerns that the organization is enabling a discriminatory practice, as data shows a "significant imbalance” in the ratio of boys to girls being born in the United Kingdom. 

Campaigners argue that the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, which performs over 100,000 abortions annually, is putting women at risk of being pressured to abort their baby girls and give birth to boys instead, as The Sunday Times reported. 

On its website, the BPAS claims that the Abortion Act in the United Kingdom is “silent on the matter” of sex-selective abortions.

“Reason of fetal sex is not a specified ground for abortion within the Abortion Act, but nor is it specifically prohibited,” the BPAS website states. “Other reasons for abortion that are widely accepted as 'good' reasons — for example, if the woman has been raped —  are not specified either.”

"The Abortion Act gives doctors the power to make decisions about whether a woman can end a pregnancy on the basis of specific grounds. It does not prevent a doctor approving an abortion where a woman has mentioned the sex of the fetus, but one of the grounds of the Act would have to be met," the website continues. "There will be rare circumstances where fetal sex may be a factor in a woman's decision making — each case will be individual and doctors are asked to decide in 'good faith' whether that individual woman meets the criteria set out in the Act."

BPAS did not immediately respond to The Christian Post’s request for comment, but BPAS spokesperson Katie Saxon defended the organization's claims in a statement to The Sunday Times.

"The reasons women may seek abortion care are diverse and complex, and our experience caring for more than 100,000 women every year is that it is vanishingly rare for any woman to seek an abortion on the grounds of [fetal] sex," she stated.

“However, as the DHSC itself recognises, there are instances — such as serious health conditions specific to one sex — where foetal sex may form a part of both women’s and doctors’ decision-making.”

A 2014 guidance issued to doctors by the Department of Health states "that abortion on the grounds of gender alone is not lawful."

The guidance is cited in a 2015 report that the department released titled “Assessment of termination of pregnancy on grounds of the sex of the foetus.” In the 2015 report, the department noted that its guidance released in the previous year “states that abortion on the grounds of gender alone is illegal.” 

The Department of Health did not immediately respond to CP’s request for comment. 

According to BPAS’ latest annual report for 2023-24, the organization provided over 106,000 abortions across the U.K. and sent over 65,000 abortion drugs to clients through the mail. 

Reacting to BPAS, Dr. Christina Francis, an OB-GYN and the president of the American Association of Pro-Life Obstetricians and Gynecologists, told The Christian Post that “sex-selective abortion fundamentally undermines" the rights of both maternal care patients "by discriminating against the preborn patient based on sex."

“If such discrimination were directed at any patient outside the womb, we would rightly condemn it. Why should it be any different before birth?” Francis asked. 

“Induced abortion is a discriminatory practice and sex selection is just one aspect of this. It is also used to target those with disabilities, children who might be born into poverty, and the most vulnerable and dependent,” the pro-life doctor continued. “These practices not only endanger pregnant mothers but also dehumanize their children, eroding the dignity and value of human life.”

Catherine Robinson, a spokeswoman for the advocacy group Right to Life UK, contends that BPAS’ advice could make it harder for pregnant women to “push back” against pressure to have an abortion if the child she’s carrying is a girl. 

Robinson told The Sunday Times that BPAS’ statement about sex-selective abortions is “irresponsible because it risks normalising sex-selective terminations and is likely encouraging abortions sought purely because of a baby’s sex.” 

An analysis published in October 2023 by the Department of Health and Social Care in the U.K. found a “statistically significant imbalance” in the ratio of boy to girl births for children of Indian ethnicity between 2017 and 2021. 

The report estimated that approximately 400 baby girls may have been aborted over the five-year period from 2017 to 2021. During this period, 3.6 million births were registered across the U.K., with a ratio of males to females of 105.4, below the accepted upper limit of 107, according to the analysis. 

Among Indian families where the mother had given birth to two or more children, the DHSC noted that the birth sex ratio of Indian children is “significantly higher” than the 107 threshold, as the ratio rose to 113 boys to 100 girls.