Lord Moylan at the Aquatic Centre, London. (Image: PA)

A bill that would require the Department of Health and Social Care in the UK to publish an annual report on medical complications from abortions has passed its second reading in the House of Lords.

The Complications from Abortions (Annual Report) Bill was introduced by Lord Moylan. If passed into law, it would prompt an annual report to be produced containing comprehensive information on all the abortion related complications and risks to women’s health that took place under the abortion law over the previous year. 

Right to Life UK is reporting that a Department of Health and Social Care review that was carried out in 2013 revealed that abortion complication rates are likely much higher than has been previously reported in the annual abortion statistics, which are based on information gleaned from abortion providers.

In 2018, the Government here opposed similar amendments to the new abortion law that would have ensured greater transparency and accountability in helping safeguard the health and lives of women. It was very revealing the lengths that senior politicians (who preached so much about women’s ‘healthcare’) went to in order to nix the reasonable amendments put forward at the time. In addition to the thousands of unborn lives lost under the new abortion law, there have been numerous incidents under the new law where women’s health and lives have been put at risk. One such case was the woman from Limerick who almost died following an abortion due to the presence of an undetected ectopic pregnancy. This particular story only came to light after the Irish Medical Journal earlier this year published the findings of a research paper that examined the case.

It is appalling the way the Government seems content to conceal the truth about what is happening under the new abortion law. Lord Moylan’s bill in the UK is a welcome development as it shines a spotlight on an area that urgently needs greater scrutiny and accountability.