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Over 650 British physicians “mutiny” in opposition to secret plans to decriminalize abortion

Sep 22, 2017

Letter charges adoption would “’open up the gate for easy abortion up to birth”

By Dave Andrusko

The British newspaper The Sun described it as nothing short of “Medic Mutiny.” The Daily Mail went even further: “Mutiny on abortion: Hundreds of doctors revolt over secret plans which would allow ‘free for all’ terminations ‘up until birth’”

As NRL News Today reported, Prof. Professor Lesley Regan, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG), is the driving force behind a secret vote to take a position in support of full decriminalization of abortion and to lobby the government to change the 1967 law. She’s gone so far as to compare abortion to having a bunion removed.

A letter sent by more than 650 physicians to Prof. Regan, seen by the Daily Mail, objected both to the behind the behind-closed-doors vote and the predicted results of abortion on demand throughout pregnancy. Abortion is legal in England through 24 words, unless the baby is prenatally diagnosed with a “physical or mental abnormality.”

The Daily Mail’s Sophie Borland and Simon Caldwell report that the letter objects to Regan’s “extreme” views on abortion, adding that it is “’completely unacceptable’ that the majority of members are being denied the chance to vote.”

While RCOG represents 6,000 senior doctors in England who specialize in childbirth and women’s health, a scant 33 members of the body’s council will take part in a secret ballot.

In addition

Dr. John Etherton, a GP and RCOG member from Lewes, East Sussex, said the move would ‘open up the gate for easy abortion up to birth’.

He added: ‘It sounds very benign to say let’s decriminalise a procedure, it sounds acceptable, but the immediate implications are that it opens the gate for infanticide. That’s very clear.’

The Daily Mail provided a very succinct and fair assessment of the situation as it exists today in a sidebar story. That includes blatantly disregarding both the spirit and the letter of the law.

Britain’s 40-year-old abortion law requires two doctors to agree to a termination on ‘medical grounds’.

Both must say the abortion is necessary to prevent ‘grave, permanent’ physical or mental damage.

But campaigners say the law is only being followed ‘loosely’ by doctors. Women with no risk of physical harm can still have a termination if doctors claim her mental health is at risk.

There is also evidence that doctors have been ‘pre-signing’ blank abortion forms.

In March, the Mail exposed how doctors at abortion provider Marie Stopes were signing off terminations by phone. Some campaigners say legal restrictions encourage women to buy illegal abortion pills online.

What this does not mention is what it has reported in prior stories–that Marie Stopes has been soaked in controversy.

The physicians’ letter also notes

‘We represent a variety of positions on the issue of abortion, but believe this motion is out of keeping with both our duties as responsible professionals and the expressed wishes of British women with regards to the legality and regulation of abortion. This move to introduce a radical abortion law is being promoted by a small group of campaigners with extreme views on abortion…

‘Whilst they are entitled to hold the convictions they do we must not let them impose their agenda on the RCOG and risk severely damaging its reputation as a professional body.

‘We, the undersigned, wish to state publicly that any policy which seeks to remove abortion from its current legal framework does not represent us or our views.’

Categories: Abortion