BY A STAFF REPORTER
AN attempt by Mr. Norman St. John-Stevas (Con., Chelmsford) to prevent people "making fortunes by battening on human weakness' was rejected by Mr. Crossman, the Secretary of State for Social Services, on Monday in the Commons.
Mr. St. John-Stevas was asking Mr. Crossman for a further statement on the working of the Abortion Act.
"Is it not true," he asked, "that, owing to Mr. Crossman's predecessor ignoring the advice offered by the British Medical Association and the Royal College of Surgeons, a minority of doctors are operating a legalised racket in thp private sector?" Mr. Crossman replied that he had to be careful because control which the Secretary of State was permitted to have was not control of the doctor but control of the premises and thet equipment. "It is not for us to go further and invade clinical freedom in a way the House would not appreciate," he said.