All allegations of abortions failing to comply with the Abortion Act are taken very seriously. Any allegation of an illegal abortion should be reported to the police, who will, if appropriate, conduct a criminal investigation.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) is an independent prosecutor. While the Attorney General’s Office oversees it the CPS acts and carries out prosecutions independently of Government and it cannot intervene to put pressure on the CPS, either to encourage a particular prosecution or not.
In the case in question, the CPS reviewed the evidence of the case and found prosecution would not be in the public interest. When the CPS took the original decision not to prosecute it was because they concluded that these specific cases would be better dealt with by the General Medical Council rather than by prosecution. In fact, in a statement, the Deputy Chief Crown Prosecutor for CPS London was keen to point out that this was a case-specific decision on the individual facts, not a policy decision of general application.
A private prosecution can be taken over and stopped if there is not enough evidence to make a proper case, or where a prosecution is against the public interest or could cause an injustice. I appreciate that some people will not agree with the stance taken by the CPS in this case, however, as an independent prosecutor, it is fundamental they operate free from political interference.
I know there is also concern over the issue of Miss Hubert having to now pay the legal fees she incurred, however the awarding of costs is entirely a matter for the independent judiciary.
By Patrick McLoughlin on September 01, 2016