Doctors vote to ease early abortions

[Scout]

http://news.independent.co.uk/health/article2715105.ece

PA
Published: 27 June 2007

Doctors voted in favour today of giving women quicker access to abortions in early pregnancy.

Medics attending the British Medical Association (BMA) conference voted by 67% to 33% in favour of removing the need for two doctors' signatures to allow an abortion in the first trimester.

The move would effectively remove the need for women to meet medical criteria that continuing with the pregnancy poses a risk to their medical or physical health.

The move means that abortion in the first three months of pregnancy would be as easy to obtain as other treatments.

The motion said current laws should be amended so that "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".

However, doctors rejected calls for midwives and nurses to be able to carry out first trimester abortions with suitable training.

They also voted against relaxing laws on what is an "approved" place to carry out first trimester abortions. If doctors had voted in favour, it would have paved the way for abortions to be performed in places like GP surgeries.



Note: Mods, this article is so short I'm hoping it's ok to post more than 4 paragraphs.

[ismnotwasm]

1. Good

I don't know UK law, and I was unaware that 1st trimester abortions required two signatures--the thought makes me gag. (I think I'll do a search on UK abortion law, educate myself a bit)

[bliss_eternal]

2. If you find anything about this...

...feel free to share it here. I'm interested, too.

[ismnotwasm]

3. I found this

It's an older site;
http://www.efc.org.uk/Foryoungpeople/Factsaboutabortion/HistoryofUKabortionlaw

Interesting, how in the UK the decision was given over to MD's--another way to say women don't know what they want and are not qualfied to make choices over thier own bodies.

They more I read, the more I am very pleased with this decision.

And here's a good place for this site; :)

http://www.reproductiverights.org/pub_fac_abortion_laws.html

[iverglas]

5. there's the one I was thinking of

in your first link -- the link to CBC trust.

The specific page is:

http://www.cbctrust.com/history.php
http://www.cbctrust.com/history_law_religion.php
"Abortion in Law, History and Religion"

That and Joyce Arthur's piece make good companions.

Childbirth by Choice is a Canadian organization that I've never heard of apart from this website.


Table of contents of the law history religion piece, for info:


TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction
Abortion Has Always Been With Us .5
Evolving Position of the Christian Church .6
Early Legal Opinion 7
Twentieth Century .9
Abortion Today: Legal and Illegal 10

WESTERN EUROPE: Belgium . 12
Denmark . 12
Finland . 13
France 13
Germany . 14
Great Britain 16
Greece 16
Iceland . 17
Ireland . 17
Italy 18
Netherlands . 19
Norway 19
Portugal . 20
Spain 20
Sweden 21

CENTRAL AND EASTERN EUROPE: Albania . 22
Bulgaria . 23
Former Czechoslovakia 23
Hungary . 23
Poland 24
Romania . 25
Former Yugoslavia 26

FORMER SOVIET UNION . 26

ASIA AND OCEANIA: Australia 28
Bangladesh 29
China 29
India 30
Indonesia 30
Israel 31
Japan 31
Malaysia . 32
New Zealand . 32
Pakistan . 32
Philippines . 33
Vietnam . 33

MIDDLE EAST: Iran 34
Tunisia . 35
Turkey 36

AFRICA: Kenya 36
Namibia . 37
Nigeria . 37
South Africa . 37
Zambia 38
Zimbabwe . 38

LATIN AMERICA AND THE CARIBBEAN: Argentina 40
Brazil 40
Chile 40
Columbia . 41
Cuba . 41
Honduras . 41
Mexico 42
Nicaragua 42
Peru . 42
Venezuela 43

NORTH AMERICA: United States 43
CANADA 46

RELIGIOUS GROUPS:

CHRISTIAN: Anglican 51
Baptist . 52
Evangelical Fellowship 52
Evangelical Lutheran . 52
Jehovah's Witness 53
Presbyterian . 53
Roman Catholic 53
United 54

NON-CHRISTIAN: Buddhism . 54
Hinduism . 54
Humanists 55
Islam 55
Judaism . 55
Native Spirituality . 56
Sikhism . 56
Unitarian 56

SUMMARY . 57

ENDNOTES 59

[bliss_eternal]

6. Very cool.

Thanks ismnotwasm and iverglas. :thumbsup:

[iverglas]

4. history of abortion laws

Another chance to recommend Joyce Arthur on a whole range of related issues:

http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/writing.html


http://mypage.direct.ca/w/writer/civilize.html
"Legal Abortion - The sign of a civilized society"

Oh well drat. She doesn't include the UK! (Also keep in mind it was written in 1999, but it's useful history.)

Until 1988, Canada's abortion law, under the liberalization that occurred in 1972, I think it was, allowed "therapeutic" abortion -- much like the UK's does now. We needed not just two doctors, but two doctors with the approval of a hospital committee. The thing was, by the time Morgentaler got it struck down in 1988, the whole process amounted to a rubber stamp in most places -- at least in big cities. The "approval" was commonly given after the surgery. It was still demeaning, and a big problem was the huge inconsistency in the way the law was being interpreted and applied from one place to another, and thus unequal access.

The UK's law is a bit of a relic in that respect -- it was a liberalization from earlier rules, but it hasn't quite kept up with the times. I'm not aware of any women actually having difficulty getting the necessary medical opinions. It's just demeaning and potentially time-consuming.


Ah, here's a good review of European rules governing abortion:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6235557.stm

Just click on the country you want; good one to bookmark.

UNITED KINGDOM

Availability: Under certain conditions

Gestational limit: 24 weeks

Conditions: Abortion is allowed in England, Wales and Scotland to save a woman's life, for health, economic or social reasons. Two registered medical practitioners must certify that the required medical grounds have been met.

The procedure must be carried out, except in emergency, in a National Health Service hospital or in a nursing home, private hospital or other approved place. The consent of the spouse is not a prerequisite of the medical termination.

In Northern Ireland, the woman's health must be at risk. The difference between the British mainland and Northern Ireland occurred in 1967 when the Westminster parliament let the then Ulster authority decide not to adopt the new laws. Hundreds of women each year cross the Irish Sea to get abortions in England.

Sources: United Nations and the International Planned Parenthood Federation.

If you watch Brit soaps like Coronation Street or East Enders, you never see anyone considering terminating a pregnancy worrying about getting approval. They just make appointments at the local clinic.

The thing with rules like this is that as long as they aren't actually interfering in anything, they tend to just be kept on, because trying to expressly get rid of them stirs up hornet's nests.