When Hampshire police found a human placenta in woodland in Southampton this summer, officers contacted the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS). The force wanted details of anyone who had been seen but turned away at a BPAS clinic because they were over the limit at which they could have an abortion – and anyone who had “disengaged having initially made inquiries to seek a termination”.
“That was potentially hundreds of women,” wrote Claire Murphy, the chief executive of BPAS, in her reply to the police. “We owe our clients a duty of confidentiality. If this is information you want, you’ll have to get a court order.”
