Abortion and the BMA
The 
BMA Ethics Committee is calling on the BMA to change its policy to back abortion on demand in the first twelve weeks of pregnancy. At the BMA's Annual Representative Meeting on 27 June 2007 there are three motions (333, 333a, 333b) to be debated which if passed will lead the BMA to push for further liberalisation of the law. Motions calling for more restrictions on abortion have all been relegated to an area of the agenda which is unlikely to be reached.
Motion 333 by THE AGENDA COMMITTEE reads as follows:
That this Meeting calls for legislation to be amended so that:
(i) first trimester abortion would be available on the same basis of informed consent as other treatment and therefore without the need for two doctors' signatures;
(ii) first trimester abortion could be carried out by suitably trained healthcare professionals including midwives and nurses;
(iii) the current rules relating to “approved premises” are relaxed with regard to first trimester abortions.
We are concerned that:
- The BMA ethics committee has produced radical recommendations to liberalise the law on abortion and published these recommendations in the media, ahead of a debate at the BMA annual representative meeting on 27 June 2007.
- The BMA agenda committee, in deciding on the agenda for conference, has given priority to these recommendations and relegated all other motions on abortion to an area of the agenda that is unlikely to be reached.
- Individuals with strongly pro-choice views in the BMA ethics committee are having a disproportionate influence on the way BMA policy is decided.
We are particularly concerned that the BMA ethics committee itself has proposed the following changes to the abortion law:
- Nurses and midwives should be able to carry out medical and surgical abortions.
- The requirement for two doctors to sign the consent form should be removed.
- The rule which says women should only have an abortion if it is in the best interests of their physical and mental health ought to be scrapped.
- The requirement that abortions can only take place in licensed clinics should be abandoned. This means GPs' surgeries, or even the woman's home, could be used.
