Medical Students submit emergency motion to BMA ARM
Two medical students have submitted an emergency motion to the BMA Annual Representative Meeting in Torquay today calling for the recommendations of the BMA Medical Ethics Committee on abortion not to be further considered until a survey of frontline doctors' opinion has been fully conducted and results known and published.The motion by David Randall and Nick Riches, both delegates to the conference, comes after over 340 BMA members signed an online petition over the weekend calling on the BMA to reject the recommendations of its Medical Ethics Committee that the BMA change its policy to support abortion on demand in the first trimester.
The petition at www.bmapetition.org.uk also called for the BMA to conduct a properly evidence-based review that involves full consultation with its members and all frontline doctors.
The full text of the emergency motion reads as follows:
Emergency Motion to BMA ARM
That this meeting notes that:
1. Forty years after abortion was made legal in Britain, there is a widespread feeling that current legal provisions are in need of reform.
2. The BMA ethics committee has produced recommendations to further liberalise the law on abortion, and has released these recommendations to the media, ahead of a debate at the BMA annual representative meeting on 27 June 2007.
3. There is currently very little evidence available to reveal what the views are of ordinary doctors with regard to legal reform in this area.
4. The House of Commons Science and Technology Committee has on 20th June 2007, subsequent to the BMA agenda being set, announced a new enquiry into scientific developments relating to the 1967 Abortion Act and has asked for submissions on the subject until 2nd September 2007.
5. Since Friday 22nd June over 340 BMA members have signed an online petition calling for the BMA to reject the recommendations of its Medical Ethics Committee and to conduct a properly evidence-based review that involves full consultation with its members and all frontline doctors.
Believes that:
- The 1967 Abortion Act should be reviewed in the light of advances in scientific understanding and changes in public opinion, and that this should be done in a properly considered evidence-based way.
- The views of the BMA are well respected on matters of medical ethics.
- It is essential that on such a controversial and potentially divisive issue the official position of the BMA reflects the widespread views of its grassroots members.
Calls for:
- A comprehensive survey to be taken of the views of all BMA members and the medical literature, considering issues relating to the deregulation of first trimester abortions, the risks posed by abortion for the physical and mental health of women, the relative risks of early abortion versus pregnancy and delivery, the upper limit for abortions under section C of the mental health act, and the definition of 'serious handicap' in relation to abortion up to term.
- The recommendations of the BMA's Medical Ethics Committee not to be further considered until such a survey of frontline doctors' opinion has been fully conducted and results known and published.
