Doctors’ union wants abortion decriminalised

THE British Medical Association has angered pro-lifers by calling for the decriminalisation of abortion.

The doctors’ union yesterday formally agreed to lobby the Government to abandon the current laws, which require an expectant mother to convince two doctors an abortion is necessary to protect her long-term health.

Abortions are an offence in nearly all other circumstances under the 50-year-old law, but the BMA now says the issue should become purely medical rather than criminal.

Last night, senior medics said the BMA’S “important and powerful” vote would strengthen the hand of politicians in favour of reform.

But pro-life groups and concerned practitioners said it could “open the floodgates” to sex-selective terminations, as well as put women in abusive relationships at risk of coercion to end their pregnancies. More than 1,500 doctors and medical students yesterday signed an open letter urging the union to oppose the move, while Christian Concern said the motion showed “shocking disrespect for human life”.

According to government statistics, there were 190,406 abortions carried out in England and Wales last year, slightly lower than the five-year high in 2015.

Dr Clare Gerada, former chairman of the Royal College of GPS and a trustee of pro-choice British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), said: “For the BMA to be coming out overwhelmingly for the decriminalisation of abortion, I think now politicians will have to stand up and listen and actually take action.”

If the BMA gets its way, doctors would not face criminal sanctions for providing, or women for procuring, an abortion in any circumstances, at any stage in a pregnancy. However, the union still advocates professional General Medical Council regulations that limit terminations under normal circumstances up to 24 weeks. Dr Anthony Mccarthy, of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: “The BMA has betrayed all who take seriously healthcare for pregnant women in favour of an extremist agenda in line with the abortion industry’s laissez faire up-to-birth attitude to ending the lives of unborn children.

“Against overwhelming public opinion and against those who support women by refusing to trivialise abortion, the BMA has undermined the consciences of doctors who refuse to follow an autonomy agenda that has nothing to do with good medicine and everything to do with ideology.”

The BPAS welcomed the vote, which it said “shows doctors believe a woman should be trusted to make her own decision over an unplanned pregnancy or a pregnancy she cannot continue”.

A spokesman added: “No other form of healthcare requires legal authorisation from two doctors before it can be performed.”