A British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) abortion facility in Doncaster is still unsafe safe for women, a new report has revealed.
Five months after the Care Quality Commission (CQC) threatened the facility with closure in November 2021, a follow-up inspection in April 2022 has shown that safety at BPAS Doncaster still “requires improvement”.
SPUC Northern Development Officer, Terry Graham, said: “It is deeply troubling that this abortion facility remains unsafe for women. Abortion is always unsafe for unborn babies, who are killed during the procedure. And it is unacceptable that women continue to be subjected to unnecessary risks.”
Repeated BPAS failures
The BPAS facility in Doncaster has a track record of women needing to be transferred, for whatever reason, to hospital. In November 2021, the CQC reported that 12 patients were transferred to the local NHS acute trust due to complications between December 2020 and May 2021.
The latest CQC report, published on 16 June 2022, now reveals that four patients were transferred to hospital between September 2021 and March 2022.
Despite the provision for underage girls undergoing surgical abortions being raised in November 2021, the CQC states there is still no effective system in place “for assessing, managing, and responding to risk of deterioration in children”, and no appropriate equipment to treat them in an emergency.
The CQC also highlighted poor storage facilities for medicine on the premises.
Mr Graham said that it is “shocking” that young girls were exposed to such risks. “This facility should be closed down”, he continued. “There is no place for abortion in a society that truly cherishes human life. That’s our mission at SPUC.”
Aborted remains dumped in BPAS Sandwell utility room
BPAS has a record of repeated failings documented by the CQC.
Last month, SPUC reported that inspectors from the CQC uncovered the aborted remains of unborn babies dumped at room temperature in a utility room at an abortion facility in Tipton, Sandwell.
The CQC report stated that the body parts discovered at BPAS Sandwell “were not stored appropriately and were left at room temperature until the next collection… in an unlocked utility room and were not stored appropriately in a freezer”.
The CQC also criticised the facility’s lack of a specific paediatric early warning score tool for use with children under the age of 16 years undergoing surgical terminations of pregnancy. At least one under 16-year-old girl is known to have had a surgical abortion at BPAS Sandwell within the last year.