MPs voted on 5 November almost unanimously for a motion which would make sex-selective abortion explicitly illegal, after growing concern that the law is unclear.
Fiona Bruce MP tabled a Ten Minute Rule Bill seeking to put beyond doubt that sex-selective abortion is not permitted in UK law. It was passed by 181 votes to one.
Glenda Jackson MP voted against the Bill and said that she took a stand because sex selection is already illegal and saw the Bill as being more about ‘undermining the existing abortion laws’. The British Medical Association had said that an abortion on gender grounds could be justified, legally and ethically, on the basis that the sex of the child may severely affect the pregnant woman’s mental health.
