ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Wednesday, August 7, 1996 TAG: 9608070058
SECTION: NATIONAL/INTERNATIONAL PAGE: A1 EDITION: METRO
DATELINE: LONDON
SOURCE: ASSOCIATED PRESS
note: below
After a public clamor and offers of cash to prevent a woman from aborting one of the twins she reportedly was carrying, a hospital agency revealed Tuesday that the fetus already had been aborted.
Anti-abortion activists, acting on newspaper reports of the woman's case,todayTuesday to prevent her from going through with the procedure.
The Hammersmith Hospital Trust did not say when the abortion was performed at Queen Charlotte Hospital. BBC radio said it was as long ago as March, and Dr. Robert Winston, a fertility specialist, told BBC TV he understood it took place about a month ago.
Further details were not immediately available - including whether the woman had given birth to the other twin and why previous reports had said she was still carrying both fetuses.
``The operation has taken place,'' Hammersmith Hospitals Trust said. It said the woman ``is adamant she does not want any more details put out.''
Since the case was first reported last weekend in the Sunday Express newspaper, anti-abortion activists had pledged more than $77,000 for the unidentified woman if she would cancel the abortion.
Earlier Tuesday, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children won an injunction against Queen Charlotte Hospital preventing the abortion until 10 a.m. today.
According to news reports, the woman was 28, unmarried, had one child and sought the abortion because of financial difficulties.
The case received extensive coverage in the British media, with the woman's obstetrician, Phillip Bennett, quoted as saying he'd agreed to abort one twin because the woman could not afford to have both.
Sue Douglas, editor of the Sunday Express, said Bennett indicated the abortion had not happened when interviewed by the newspaper.
``From our point of view, the situation is very simple: The doctor in question talked to us last Wednesday. I've checked the tapes again of the interview, and he said he had discussed with his colleagues - he uses the word `today' - the termination of the pregnancy,'' Douglas said. She added Bennett had checked the story before it was published.
Britain legalized abortion in 1967. Grounds for abortion include psychological stress, but the law says nothing about poverty.
LENGTH: Short : 50 linesby CNB