Dozens of IVF babies aborted 'after women change their minds about becoming a mother'

Daily Mail, By DAILY MAIL REPORTER, 6th June 2010

Dozens of British women are having abortions after undergoing expensive IVF treatment and then changing their minds, prompting concerns that babies are being treated like 'designer goods.'

Shocking figures show that 80 abortions are carried out each year on the NHS in England, Wales and Scotland on women who have become pregnant through IVF.

Splitting with a partner and pressure to start a family were among the reasons given by some women for terminating their pregnancies.

Abortion concerns: Dozens of women are terminating pregnancies after undergoing IVF treatment

Up to half of the abortions involved women aged 18-34, according to data from the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority, obtained by the Sunday Times.

The trend has shocked fertility experts and family groups.

'These women can’t be surprised to be pregnant; you can’t have an IVF pregnancy by accident,' said Professor Bill Ledger, a member of the HFEA and head of reproductive and developmental medicine at Sheffield University.

'I had no idea there were so many post-IVF abortions - and each one is a tragedy.'

Fertility doctor Mohamed Taranissi called for an inquiry.

'It is a matter that needs to be looked at. The HFEA should be much more open with the data they have,' he told the Sunday Times.

Former Tory minister Ann Widdecombe said women who terminated pregnancies for non-medical reasons were treating babies like 'designer goods.'

'If the law was being applied properly, people wouldn’t be able to get an abortion just because they changed their minds,' she said.

Ann Furedi, head of BPAS, formerly the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, claimed that all abortion doctors saw at least one woman a year requesting a termination after undergoing IVF.

'For infertile people, overcoming the problem becomes a goal in itself,' she said.

'Sometimes it is only when women get pregnant that they can allow themselves to ask the question about whether it is really what they want.'

Nursing supervisor Jessica Rogers, from the Bristol Marie Stopes clinic, said one patient, who had conceived twins through IVF, underwent an abortion after discovering her husband was having an affair.

'She was having his babies and she just didn’t want to continue with it on her own. I don’t think he even found out she had been pregnant,' she said.

The HFEA said abortions were not regulated, but stressed that all patients who underwent IVF were assessed before treatment.