West Mercia Police has been condemned by Ann Widdecombe for its handling of an investigation into a late abortion. The senior Tory MP called for the force to be taken off the case and replaced by detectives "with a more unbiased view and a better understanding of the law". Police are investigating doctors who performed a late abortion on a foetus with a cleft lip and palate. It follows a campaign by Church of England curate Joanna Jepson, who demanded a police investigation after she learned about the termination, which took place in 1991. When West Mercia Police refused her demands she took Chief Constable Paul West to the High Court last December and won a judicial review of his decision. The force decided not to wait for the review and announced a team of detectives would investigate the case. But a report in a national newspaper last week suggested detectives were unhappy about the decision. An un-named senior detectives described it as "political correctness gone mad" and expressed concern that opening the inquiry would distress the patient, a Herefordshire woman. A police source was quoted as saying: "She is incredibly vulnerable. I feel very, very sorry for her, the way that Joanna Jepson just picked on her case. "She just wants to get on with her life." Detectives will have to interview the woman as well as the doctors involved in the case, and a file will then be submitted to the Crown Prosecution Service. In an official House of Commons Motion, four MPs including Ann Widdecombe said there were "genuine concerns... that the operation may well have been in breach of the law". They described the detective's comments as a "contemptuous remark" and added: "In any investigation the police are required to be impartial". The MPs called on the Home Secretary "to remove the case from the West Mercia police force and to ensure that the investigation is carried out by detectives with a more unbiased view, and a better understanding of the law". But a spokesman for West Mercia Police denied their detective had ever made the comments. He said: "No senior detective involved in the investigation has spoken to a reporter from a national newspaper and we do not know the source of this comment. "The view expressed in the anonymous quote does not reflect the view of West Mercia Constabulary or anyone involved in the renewed investigation." Miss Jepson says the termination, carried out after the normal 24-week limit, was an "unlawful killing". She says a cleft palate is a minor problem, not the "serious handicap" the law demands to justify a late abortion. The case could have major implications for those offering late abortions because a child is disabled and for women who learn late in pregnancy that their baby has a serious problem. Miss Jepson, curate of St Michael's Church, Chester, was born with a facial deformity, which was corrected through surgery when she was a teenager. | 
