ISSUES
: Abortion
Chapter 2: Abortion debate
29
Midwife slams Royal College of Midwives’
support for dropping legal time limit for
abortions
“It is hard to see how there could not be a conflict of interest.”
By Louise Ridley
A
midwife who was at the
centre of a high-profile court
case has called on colleagues
to “forcefully refuse” to back the
“horror” position adopted by their
professional body to scrap the time
limit for abortions.
Mary Doogan, from Glasgow, took a
case to the UK’s highest court over
whether the right of ‘conscientious
objection’ to the procedure extended
beyond participation in actual
medical or surgical termination, The
Press Association reported.
She has now criticised the Royal
College of Midwives (RCM) after
its chief executive Professor Cathy
Warwick backed a campaign by the
British Pregnancy Advisory Service
(bpas) calling for abortion to be
removed from criminal law.
As Professor Warwick also chairs
the bpas board of trustees, Ms
Doogan insisted there was a
“conflict of interest” at the heart of
the “gruesome decision”.
Under current laws, a woman can
be liable to life imprisonment if she
terminates her pregnancy beyond
24 weeks without medical legal
authorisation.
In February, the professor, in her
capacity as head of the RCM, said
the bpas campaign had the union’s
full support as she called for the
legal limit to be ‘relegated to history’.
Ms Doogan said: “The professional
trade union body, which has the role
of representing the vast majority of
midwives, has taken the remarkable
step of endorsing a campaign which
is radically at odds with a positive
regard for the babies that midwives
work so hard to bring safely into the
world.
“The British Pregnancy Advisory
Service makes a profit from
abortion as a private provider and
is calling for abortion to birth to be
decriminalised.
“Its chairman is Professor Cathy
Warwick, who happens to be the
chief executive of the Royal College
of Midwives and she has reportedly
signed midwives up to the gruesome
plan of bpas.
“It is hard to see how there could not
be a conflict of interest.”
Ms Doogan and colleague Connie
Wood took a legal case concerning
their rights not to have any involvement
in terminations to the UK Supreme
Court in London.
While they had no direct role in the
procedure, they took the action
because they did not wish to book in
patients, allocate staff in the ward or
supervise and support midwives who
care for women undergoing abortions.
They lost their case when Supreme
Court justices found participating
in treatment meant taking part in a
‘hands-on capacity’, overturning a
previous ruling in their favour by a
court in Scotland which declared
the right to ‘conscientious objection’
under the Abortion Act 1967 extended
beyond participation in the medical or
surgical procedure.
Ms Doogan said: “I entered the
professiontobringlifeintotheworldnot
to end life. This is really unbelievable.
An unbelievable decision taken in the
name of the majority of midwives.
“I would hope that the horror of this
position and what is now being
demanded of all midwives would
penetrate minds and hearts and make
them stand up and forcefully refuse
to take part in this and oppose this
policy decision.”
Professor Warwick has already stated
RCM members did not require to be
consulted over the organisation’s
support for the bpas campaign.
Earlier this week, she said: “Linking
up with this campaign to change the
way we provide abortion is totally
compatible with the RCM’s objective
to ensure high-quality healthcare and
choice for women.
‘We haven’t consulted the members
and under the way the RCM operates,
we don’t need to consult our
members.
‘At the moment we have had very, very
significant support from our members
on this position, as well as of course
a few members who say this is not a
position they support.”
Under UK law, an abortion can usually
only be carried out during the first 24
weeks of pregnancy as long as certain
criteria are met.
The Abortion Act 1967 covers
England, Scotland and Wales, but not
Northern Ireland. The law states that
abortions must be carried out in a
hospital or a specialist licensed clinic
and two doctors must agree that an
abortion would cause less damage to
a woman’s physical or mental health
than continuing with the pregnancy.
There are special circumstances
which would allow abortion after 24
weeks, such as if there is a substantial
risk to the woman’s life or serious
foetal abnormalities.
22 May 2016
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The above information is
reprinted with kind permission
from The Huffington Post
UK.
Please
visit
www.
huffingtonpost.co.uk for further
information.
© 2016 AOL (UK) Limited
