BBC to provide information about abortions after Call the Midwife controversy
The BBC has confirmed that it has now added a link on its website providing individuals with information about abortion, having been heavily criticised for failing to do so.
On 3 February, an episode of the period drama Call The Midwife was aired on BBC One.
The episode featured a storyline about a woman who passed away as a result of complications from an illegal "backstreet" abortion.
At the end of the programme, a message appeared on screen instructing viewers to visit the BBC Action Line website if they wished for further information regarding the issues raised in the storyline.
However, individuals who visited the site found no information concerning abortion, many of whom voiced their outrage over the situation.
After concerns raised by organisations including the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) - the UK's largest abortoin provider - BBC Action Line said that it had chosen not to include a link to information about abortion because the topic is "contentious".
The BBC has since rescinded this decision, stating that it has now added a link for information about abortion on the site.
"There continues to be debate about abortion in the UK," a BBC spokesperson said.
"The Abortion Act 1967 reformed the law relating to abortion but does not apply in Northern Ireland, where the framework for abortion therefore differs from other parts of UK.
"Given these differences we have added a direct link to the relevant NHS page, which has information on abortion for England, Scotland and Wales.
"As with some other widely debated issues, the Action Line does not link to all organisations."
On 17 February, Labour MP Diana Johnson organised for a letter signed by nearly 100 MPs to be sent to Lord Hall, the BBC's director-general.
The letter condemned the BBC's decision to "withold information about women's reproductive healthcare services which have been legal and have been part of the NHS for over 50 years".
Women and equalities minister Penny Mourdant and a health minister Jackie Doyle-Price also wrote to the BBC to complain about the situation.
According to a BBC spokesperson, the broadcaster added the relevant links on Friday before becoming aware of the signed MPs letter.
While the links for information about abortion now appear on the BBC Action Line website, BPAS claims that the links are "not very clearly signposted".
"Together with @DianaJohnsonMP and other concerned MPs we will be asking for a meeting with the Director General to discuss this and the BBCs representation of abortion more broadly," the organisation tweeted after the BBC announced it had added links to information about abortion on the Action Line website.
"Rest assured we will continue to pursue this until we are assured that the BBC will no longer make its own moral judgments about what information women are entitled to."
Right to Life UK, an anti-abortion group, states that, in the opinion of the organisation, the BBC has "given in" to pressure from "abortion pressure groups to further skew their coverage on this issue".
For further information, you can contact the British Pregnancy Advisory Service by calling 03457 30 40 30 or visiting bpas.org.
