Response to recent British Medical Association decisions
02 July 2007
The British Medical Association voted on 27 June for early abortions to be made available without the need of the agreement of two doctors. The motion, relating to the first 13 weeks of pregnancy, was approved by a majority of selected delegates.
Two further motions were rejected by the BMA. These would have called for abortions to be carried out by nurses and midwives, and make GP surgeries available for abortions.
Julia Millington of the Pro-life Alliance, said: “We would like to see the medical profession giving greater consideration, not to the politics of abortion, but to the medical and psychological impact on women.
“We should be asking why so many women are having abortions and offering real alternatives to women in crisis pregnancy situations so that no woman feels that abortion is her only choice.”
Dr Don Horrocks, Head of Public Affairs at the Evangelical Alliance, said: “If the BMA motions were to become law it would make abortion much more easy to obtain – virtually on demand. Surely society needs abortion to be less not more frequent. But at least we can be grateful, that the BMA sensibly have rejected even further moves towards liberalisation of the 1967 Abortion Act”.
Dr Andrew Fergusson, CMF Head of Communications, said: “The BMA has unwisely smuggled through an ethical and legal matter camouflaged as a medical one. This is asking for abortion on demand in the first 3 months of pregnancy and that is a matter for Parliament ultimately to decide. We welcome the debate the BMA has now started!”
Nola Leach, Chief Executive Officer at CARE, commented: “CARE is delighted that proposals regarding the deregulation of abortion in relation to both premises and staff were rejected by the BMA this week. However, we are very concerned that they voted against the two doctors requirement.
“Research demonstrating a clear relationship between abortion and psychological trauma and pre-term birth mean that rather than deregulating in the interest of speedy decisions that save money we should actually be introducing new regulations to ensure that women are made aware of all the risks and given time to make a considered unhurried decision.”
Concerned individuals may wish to consider viewing and signing a petition set up by concerned members of the BMA. www.bmapetition.org.uk
Please visit www.prolife.org.uk, www.care.org.uk or www.cmf.org.uk for more information.
