Illegal Abortion (1657A/23)
Request
For the calendar years 2018 to 2023, please provide me with:
The number of persons investigated in relation to the procurement of an illegal abortion.
For each case could you provide a brief anonymised description of what happened and who reported the alleged crime (eg NHS staff)
Could you also state the outcome of any investigation and whether the case was referred to the CPS.
Can you please list the specific legislation used to refer to each case?
Response
We can confirm that relevant information is held by West Midlands Police. However, while the majority of the information is attached to this email, I am not required to release all of the information requested. Please see attached.
REASONS FOR DECISION
The withheld information is exempt by virtue of the following exemptions:
Section 30(1)(a)(b) – Investigations
Section 40(2) – Personal information
These exemptions and explanatory notes are shown here:
In line with the above, I am required to complete a Prejudice Test/Public Interest Test (PIT) on disclosure. Please find this PIT attached (1657A_PIT_01).
Section 40(2) is an absolute and class-based exemption if to release the information exists would breach the third party’s data protection rights. In this case to release this personal information would not constitute fair processing of the data. As this exemption is class based I am not required to identify the harm in disclosure and in this instance, I believe that the right to privacy outweighs any public interest in release.