Vicar loses abortion battle.

Chester -- Rev. Joanna Jepson, an Anglican curate in this English town, was in the news a year ago (see C.I., March 2004, p. 26) when she discovered that a woman had had a late-term abortion because the preborn child had been diagnosed with a cleft palate. She notified police because, having been born with a cleft palate herself, she knew this was not a "serious disability" that would justify an abortion, according to British law.

In March 2005, Miss Jepson was notified that her attempts to bring criminal charges against the doctors involved in the 2001 abortion had failed. The Crown Prosecutor said that the doctors had decided in good faith that there was a "substantial risk" that the child would be seriously handicapped if allowed to be born.

The British Society for the Protection for the Unborn Child is seeking legal advice on challenging the decision under the Human Rights Act. Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, senior Catholic prelate of England and Wales, has told Catholic voters to consider the position on abortion of candidates in the upcoming election. He has been joined by the Chief Rabbi and the secretary-general of the Muslim Council of Britain in condemning the decision of the Crown Prosecution Service.

Miss Jepson is seeking legal advice to clarify the rights of babies whose mothers are in the later stages of pregnancy.