No charges in late abortion case (Published: 16 March 2005)

The Crown Prosecution Service have announced that charges will not be brought against the two doctors who terminated a pregnancy beyond 24 weeks because the fetus had a cleft palate.

The case was brought to the media's attention in December 2003 when Reverend Joanna Jepson launched a judicial review of the West Mercia Police Force for refusing to investigate. She noticed the case in the 2001 National Abortion Statistics and approached the West Mercia police in October 2002, who declined to investigate the termination after obtaining a letter from the vice president of the RCOG in support of this decision.

After the court gave permission for a judicial review, West Mercia Police decided to investigate the case. As a result of their findings, West Mercia CPS said it was satisfied the doctors involved had acted in good faith.

Read further:

• bbc.co.uk
• On this site