To ask the Secretary of State for Health on what date the 2007 Abortion Statistics will be published; if he will place copies in (a) the Vote Office and (b) the Library; and if he will make a statement. (209094)

The ‘Abortion Statistics, England and Wales: 2007’ will be published on 19 June 2008. Copies will be placed in the Library and will be made available in the Vote Office.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what the evidential basis was for the statements made by the Minister for Public Health on 20 May 2008, Official Report, column 246, that a reduction in the current limit for abortion would (a) force women to give birth to unwanted children and (b) lead to women travelling abroad and seeking abortions elsewhere; and if he will make a statement. (209105)

Every Member of the House spoke and voted in accordance with their conscious. It is a matter for each Member to decide the case they wished to advance.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health how many discharges there were from hospitals after septic abortions in each year since 1990. (209113)

The information is not available in the format requested. Such information as is available is shown in the following table.

To ask the Secretary of State for Health what research his Department (a) has commissioned, (b) plans to commission and (c) has evaluated on the number of children who were born alive following an attempted abortion; when his Department last undertook a review of the number of children who were born alive following an attempted abortion that took into account (i) UK and (ii) international research; and if he will make a statement. (209117)

The Confidential Enquiry into Maternal and Child Health (CEMACH) collects data on all perinatal deaths (which includes the extremely small number of cases following abortion) and conducts confidential inquiries and other in-depth analyses of defined subsets. From this, CEMACH identifies key findings and makes recommendations as appropriate. As there is ongoing monitoring in this area, the Department has no plans to commission any further work.

The British Medical Association, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and the British Association of Perinatal Medicine (BAPM) have all issued guidance to clinicians on this sensitive issue. Ultimately, the management of these cases rests with the clinical team involved, taking into account all the relevant factors and circumstances. BAPM is currently updating its guidance on this issue.