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Doctors call for abortion reform Doctors back 'easier' abortions
(1 day later)
The British Medical Association conference is to consider a call for quicker and easier access to abortion. Doctors have called for a relaxation of the rules to allow women quicker access to abortions in early pregnancy.
One proposal at the Torquay conference is a call to scrap the need for two doctors to allow an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy. The British Medical Association conference backed a motion calling for abortions to be approved by just one doctor, rather than the current two.
Doctors will also consider proposals for non-approved premises, such as GP practices, to carry out abortions. The call only covers terminations in the first trimester, effectively the first three months of pregnancy.
The ideas have angered anti-abortion groups, but the government said there are no plans to change the law. However, the Department of Health said there were no plans to modify the current legislation.
BMA leaders said it was important to discuss the issue because many women are facing long waits for abortions. Why on earth should women seeking termination - often distressed and anxious - be faced with irrational barriers? Dr Evan Harris
The vote at the conference in Torquay - passed by 67% to 33% - effectively means doctors want abortion to be carried out on an "informed consent" basis - assuming that one doctor explaining the pros and cons is enough.
This would make it as easy to obtain as other treatments.
However, BMA representatives rejected proposals to allow nurses and midwives to carry out terminations.
Risk to health
The 1967 Abortion Act currently requires women to satisfy two doctors that carrying on with the pregnancy represents a risk to their health.
But doctors said advances in medicine meant it was now riskier to carry on with a pregnancy than to have a first trimester termination, so all women met the criteria.
Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris, also a member of the BMA, proposed the changes to the conference.
He said: "Why on earth should women seeking termination - often distressed and anxious - be faced with irrational barriers?"
Abortions before the nine-week mark can be done using drugs, rather than surgically.Abortions before the nine-week mark can be done using drugs, rather than surgically.
We are looking at is whether it is reasonable to give women easier access because of the delays they face Dr Tony CallandBMA's medical ethics committee The BMA vote in favour of liberalisation of the abortion law flies in the face of medical and public opinion on the issue Julia MillingtonProLife Alliance
But with waits of up to seven weeks in certain areas, some women are denied this option. But with waits of up to seven weeks in areas, some women are denied this option.
Dr Tony Calland, chairman of the BMA's medical ethics committee, said medical abortions of this kind represented such a low risk that carrying on with the pregnancy was actually more dangerous. Dr Tony Calland, chairman of the BMA's medical ethics committee, said: "There are unnecessary waits and the move voted on would speed up the system.
He said this raised questions about the need for women to prove - as they must currently do - that carrying on with the pregnancy represented a risk to health in order to be granted an abortion. "I think what this vote shows is that doctors feel the current act is outdated."
The two-doctor rule could be interpreted as outdated, he also claimed - as people have more control over their treatment than they did when the Abortion Act was passed 40 years ago. But he added if the law was changed there could "still be a bottleneck" while women wait for a doctor to become free to carry out the procedure.
"Women can now refuse to have a caesarean, even when that may be safer for the foetus, so it raises questions over the abortion requirements," said Dr Calland. Many doctors were opposed to the idea of allowing other health professionals to carry out abortions, and for them to take place in currently unapproved premises.
Midwife abortions They argued that surgical terminations - still common in the first nine weeks of pregnancy - were highly complex.
The motion also proposes allowing nurses and midwives to carry out abortions and a relaxation of the requirement for premises to be approved to carry out abortions. David Pring, a consultant gynaecologist and member of the BMA's consultants committee, said: "Things can go wrong and it is often only an experienced surgeon who realises this."
Such a move could pave the way for GP surgeries to carry out abortions - although Dr Calland said he could not imagine a situation where a woman would come in off the street and be given the abortion-inducing drugs straight away.
"I think it is important to have a time period between talking to a health professional and having a termination, to allow for reflection," he said.
"But what we are looking at is whether it is reasonable to give women easier access because of the delays they face."
All the proposals only apply to the first trimester - effectively the first 14 weeks of pregnancy - with the existing rules applying after that point.
A spokeswoman for the Family Planning Association said: "We support the idea that access should be speeded up in this way."
But Julia Millington, of the ProLife Alliance, said: "The colossal number of abortions performed is utterly horrifying.
"With only 1% of all abortions performed because of a serious risk to the life or health of the pregnant woman, we have abortion on demand in the UK. Liberalisation of the law is the last thing we need."
A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "The government has no plans to change the law on abortion."A spokeswoman for the Department of Health said: "The government has no plans to change the law on abortion."
Mixed response
Anne Weyman, chief executive of the Family Planning Association, said: "There is no justification in making women seek the permission and approval of two doctors to have an abortion, so we are delighted that the BMA has voted in favour of removing this criteria.
"We are disappointed that the BMA has voted not to extend the role of performing abortion to other trained professionals and the premises where abortion takes place, as the evidence to support this change is clear."
Julia Millington, of the ProLife Alliance, said there was clear evidence that the UK already had abortion on demand.
She said 89% of abortions were performed within the first 13 weeks of pregnancy in 2006, with less than 1% performed because of a serious risk to the life or health of the pregnant woman.
"The BMA vote in favour of liberalisation of the abortion law flies in the face of medical and public opinion on the issue. Liberalisation of the law is the last thing we need."