Explanatory note

These Regulations amend the Abortion Regulations 1991 (“the principal Regulations”).

Regulation 3 of these Regulations amend regulation 3 of the principal Regulations to provide for certificates of opinion given pursuant to sections 1(1) and 1(4) of the Abortion Act 1967 to be given either in the form set out in Part I and Part II of the Schedule to those Regulations or in a certificate containing the information specified in those Regulations.

Regulations 4 (notice of termination) and 6 substitute a new Schedule 2 to the principal Regulations specifying the information to be notified to the Chief Medical Officer within 14 days of the termination of a pregnancy and provide for the notification to be sent in a sealed envelope or transmitted as an electronic communication using an electronic communications system used solely for the transfer of confidential information to him or her.

Regulation 5 amends regulation 5 of the principal Regulations (restriction on disclosure of information) to provide for the notice of termination of pregnancy and accompanying information to be disclosed to an individual authorised by the Chief Medical Officer who is engaged in setting up, maintaining or supporting a computer system used for the purpose of recording, processing or holding such notice or information (regulation 5(b)) and to a woman whose pregnancy has been terminated, on her supplying to the Chief Medical Officer written details of her date of birth, the date and place of the termination and a copy of the certification of registration certified as a true copy of the original by a solicitor or a practitioner (regulation 5(c)).