British Medical Association Votes to Lobby for Decriminalization of Abortion
Hundreds of doctors at the British Medical Association's (BNA) annual conference in Bournemouth voted to decriminalize abortion. This is the first time that U.K.'s largest physicians' union urged the government to abandon the current legal framework and remove the sanctions on abortion.
An 1861 law made abortion a criminal act. At present, the law also permits abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, which is one of the highest in the Western world. Expectant mothers have to convince two doctors that an abortion is necessary to protect her long-term health.
But the BMA feels the current act is outdated, saying the issue should become purely medical rather than criminal. They wanted to extend the limit on abortion from 24 weeks, the point at which a baby has a good chance of surviving outside the womb, to 28 weeks.
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Christian Concern immediately responded, saying the motion showed "shocking disrespect for human life." CEO Andrea Williams said the vote had no mandate considering only one percent of women want to legalize abortion up to birth and 70 percent of them want the current 24-week limit to be lowered.
Dr. Peter Saunders, CEO of Christian Medical Fellowship, thought that the decision defied common sense and will dismay thousands of doctors and nurses. He might be referring to the open letter signed by over 1,500 doctors and medical students expressing their opposition to pro-abortion activists' move to "impose their agenda on the BMA and risk severely damaging our reputation as a professional body."
The Catholic Bishops Conference of Scotland also joined the lobby against the measure. "To build a more just world we need to ensure that every individual is afforded the right to life, this means a world free of abortion," Anthony Horan, director of the Catholic Parliamentary Office, wrote in a letter.
