Two doctors in Britain are facing charges in connection with gender-based abortion, normally meaning the aborting of a foetus simply because it is female.

Following a lengthy campaign by a pro-life campaigner, Drs Palaniappan Rajmohan and Prabha Sivaraman are to appear in court after a summons was issued on January 26. The summons was granted after a Magistrates Court in Birmingham viewed video footage of the doctors allegedly agreeing to undertake terminations based solely on the gender of the foetus. The summons requires Dr Rajmohan to surrender to the court by May 21 to face a charge of conspiracy to procure poison to be used with intent to procure abortion, contrary to section 59 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861. Dr Sivaraman, meanwhile, having faced a preliminary hearing in December, will again face a court in Manchester on February 6 in connection with the matter.

The case against the doctors stems from an undercover investigation launched by Aisling Hubert in 2012 which resulted in the capturing of Dr Rajmohan and Dr Sivaraman on camera as they agreed to procure an abortion on gender grounds.

However, what should have been an open and shut case was later stymied when, after a police investigation, the Crown Prosecution Service decided in 2013 to drop the matter, ruling that while sufficient evidence existed for prosecutions, the case was not in the public interest. The case was subsequently kept alive by the decision of Ms Hubert to pursue a private prosecution, resulting in the video’s airing before magistrates in Birmingham.

The case against the doctors comes as members of Britain’s Parliament are working to secure an amendment to the forthcoming Serious Crime Bill which would deal specifically with gender-based abortions. Currently making its way through Parliament, it is hoped the Bill will be finalised ahead of the country’s general election in May.