On 4 February 2002, I received a letter from the President of the Royal College of Psychiatrists regarding the Green Paper on Abortion. The college drew attention to a quotation contained in the Green Paper from a report entitled, The Physical and Psycho-Social effects of Abortion on Women, which had been produced in 1994 by a private commission of inquiry under the chairmanship of Lord Rawlinson of Ewell. The college indicated in its letter that the quotation in question did not accurately represent the statement to the Rawlinson commission of one of the psychiatrists who gave evidence on its behalf. The college stated that the psychiatrist had said that there were no absolute psychiatric indications for termination of pregnancy and that termination of pregnancy would always have to be worked out on the basis of an individual patient.
The quotation about which the college has expressed concern was quoted in the Green Paper on Abortion in good faith. It appeared in chapter 5, which dealt with the many submissions which had been received and the arguments made in them. The Green Paper stated explicitly that the inclusion of a particular argument or statement in that chapter did not indicate that the Cabinet committee which was responsible for the preparation of the Green Paper was in agreement with it.