Liberal Democrat Education spokesperson Margaret Smith MSP has described official figures showing the number of "gender unknown" children referred to child protection registers has risen by 52 per cent as "appalling". Gender unknown figures generally refer to unborn children.
In 2007 the number of "gender unknown" child protection referrals was 294, but by 2008 this figure had risen to 448.
Commenting, Mrs Smith said:
"These figures suggest that the abuse of unborn children has doubled. This is appalling.
"The Government must respond to this shocking increase by ensuring that the police, social workers, health visitors and GPs are aware of the scale of the problem and work together to identify and stop this abuse."
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