Doctors vote to back abortion on demand with no criminal sanction
DOCTORS’ leaders have voted to support abortion on demand despite a revolt from members.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) last night formally demanded the full decriminalisation of terminations at any stage in a pregnancy.
The influential body will now lobby government for a change in the law, copying the stance of the British Medical Association, which voted for decriminalisation in June.
The decision was made by the RCOG’S senior council behind closed doors, rather than in a ballot of its 6,000 members.
Although the Royal College is not advocating a change to the current 24week cut-off period for abortions, it wants the restriction governed by professional regulations, rather than the criminal law.
It means doctors performing terminations later in a pregnancy would face no criminal sanctions.
The current legal requirement for two doctors to sign off an abortion “on medical grounds” – for example, on the basis that going through with a pregnancy might harm a woman psychologically – should be scrapped, according to the RCOG.
The vote was last night criticised by pro-life campaigners, who accused the Royal College of “betraying its members, women and their babies, and the medical profession”. It took place despite a letter signed by more than 650 doctors objecting to Prof Lesley Regan’s “extreme stance” on abortion and their lack of participation in the decision.
Prof Regan, the president of the RCOG, insisted that decriminalisation did “not mean deregulation”.
“I am pleased that the council of our college has voted in support of removing criminal sanctions associated with abortion,” she said.
“I strongly believe that the college has a responsibility to protect women’s health by ensuring access to this key healthcare service.”
According to government statistics, there were 190,406 abortions carried out in England and Wales last year, slightly fewer than in the five-year high of 2015.
Critics of a change in the law have said it could open the floodgates to sexselective terminations as well as putting women in abusive relationships at risk of coercion to end pregnancies.
Dr Anthony Mccarthy, from the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: “By supporting a campaign to trivialise abortion, that is, a lethal attack upon an unborn child, the leadership [RCOG] has betrayed the Hippocratic principles and opened the door to a laissez-faire and in effect deregulated abortion industry.”
A spokesman for the Royal College said 45 members of the council had taken part, but would not reveal the split, saying only the council voted “strongly in favour”.