Doctors vote to ease early abortion

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Medics attending the British Medical Association (BMA) conference in Torquay voted in favour of making abortions in the first three months of pregnancy as easy to obtain as other treatments.

Such abortions should be performed on the basis of "informed consent", with patients told about the benefits and risks, the motion - passed by 67% to 33% - said.

Medics also backed calls for only one doctor, rather than two as at present, to be required to give permission for the abortion. Currently, delays can mean women go from being able to have a medical abortion to needing a more invasive surgical one.

Pro-life campaigners said the motion was about "abortion on demand" but the Government said it had no plans to change the law.

Doctors at the BMA rejected calls for midwives and nurses with suitable training to be able to carry out first trimester abortions. 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.

Liberal Democrat MP Dr Evan Harris (Oxford West and Abingdon), who is a member of the BMA's Medical Ethics Committee, proposed the motion, asking the conference "why on earth should women seeking termination - often distressed and anxious - be faced with irrational barriers, perceived or real, or face potential delays leading to later abortion when first trimester abortion, and in particular early medical abortion in the first nine weeks, is known to be safer and easier?

"We should ask ourselves why we as a country carry out terminations at a later stage on average than other European countries who use informed consent for the first trimester."

Government figures published earlier this month showed that the number of abortions performed in England and Wales rose 3.9% in 2006 with 89% being carried out under 13 weeks and 68% taking place at less than 10 weeks.

Julia Millington, political director of the ProLife Alliance, said the figures proved that the UK already had "abortion on demand." She said: "Liberalisation of the law is the last thing we need. We should be asking why so many women are having abortions and offering real alternatives to women in crisis pregnancy situations so that no woman feels that abortion is her only choice."