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Written question asked by Fiona Bruce (Conservative) on Thursday, 19 March 2020, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 23 March 2020. It was answered by Helen Whately (Conservative) on Wednesday, 25 March 2020 on behalf of the Department of Health and Social Care.


Foetuses: Pain

Question

To ask the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, whether his Department has plans to review their guidelines on foetal pain.

Answer

There is currently no plan for the Department to review the guidelines on foetal pain.

The Department does not set clinical practice. It is for clinicians to determine whether it is appropriate to provide fetal pain relief. To support clinical practice, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has considered the issue of fetal pain and awareness in its guidelines on ‘The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion and Fetal Awareness: Review of Research and Recommendations for Practice’, which can be viewed online at the following link:

https://www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/abortion-guideline_web_1.pdf

https://www.rcog.org.uk/globalassets/documents/guidelines/rcogfetalawarenesswpr0610.pdf


Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
32128
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Pain Foetuses
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk