A British pro-life group has won its case to get the UK government to disclose how many abortions are carried out on disabled unborn children. The government has been ordered by the Information Commissioner to publish the data after the ProLife Alliance won a legal victory at the Information Tribunal.

The government must report the abortion numbers next month after a complex legal battle that began six years previously. The battle began when two doctors carried out an abortion on a baby with a cleft palate and were not prosecuted for doing so. The case only came to light when pro-life advocates discerned what had happened from official abortion records. Since then, figures detailing the numbers of abortions carried out on children with disabilities have been sketchy, making it difficult to determine if babies are being killed specifically because they have some sort of potentially minor disability.

The Information Tribunal, in its ruling, indicated it was satisfied that the personal information concerning the abortion would not be made public from statistics alone. It said the potential "is so remote that disclosure of the disputed information would not be unwarranted," describing it as "very unlikely." The Pro Life Alliance told LifeNews.com that it was pleased by the decision. "The Pro Life Alliance was today informed that we have won a case in the Information Tribunal against the Department of Health and have therefore obtained the right to full disclosure of statistics relating to abortion," Julianna Tolan said.

"This is a significant victory for the pro-life movement given the emphasis in the judgement of how serious abortion is and therefore the need for transparency in order to satisfy a legitimate public interest," Tolan added.