Row over teenager's secret abortion

A major debate raged today over whether a 14-year-old girl should have been allowed to have an abortion without her mother being told.

The teenager's mother only learned of the pregnancy, and that it was being ended, from one of her daughter's schoolfriends.

By then Michelle - who now regrets her abortion - had taken a pill as an irreversible first step towards termination.

Today Ms Smith's anger prompted debate about whether it was right for a girl under 16 to undergo such a major procedure without her parents' knowledge.

By law, two doctors would have spoken to Michelle at the hospital where she was given a nonmedical abortion, and decided that she was capable of understanding the consequences of her actions.

But they also had to choose whether to inform her parents - and decided they should respect her wish that they were not told.

Professor Julian Savulescu, Oxford University professor of practical ethics and a medical doctor, said: "This is an agonising decision for doctors because the child is going to have to live with the fact they have had a termination for the rest of their lives.

"The critical issue is how well they can understand the longterm psychological consequences of making this choice."

Today Angela Donen, the lawyer acting for Ms Smith, said it was doubtful if the teenager understood what she was doing. Michelle changed her mind about aborting her baby after her mother learned of her situation. Ms Smith, 38, said: "She is simply not old enough to make a decision like that on her own."

The doctors are likely to have considered an abortion pill preferable to surgery since there would have been no need for an operation under general anaesthetic, making it easier to keep it a secret. The pill is not popular in Britain because of possible sideeffects such as prolonged bleeding.

Today Nuala Scarisbrick, a trustee of anti-abortion organisation Life, said: "A 14-year-old may be able to become pregnant but she is still a child."

The most recent figures available, for 2002, revealed half of the 39,000 pregnancies among under-18s in the UK ended in abortion.