Doctors are boycotting the British Medical Association after it backed a campaign for “abortion up to birth”.
A number of doctors have contacted the press to express their shock at a new policy in favour of stripping criminal sanctions from abortion law.
“Motion 50” was adopted at a meeting in Bournemouth by a two-thirds majority in spite of more than 1,500 doctors writing to the BMA to warn executives that it would damage the reputation of their union.
They told their trade union that “if these measures were to be implemented, it would mean the introduction of abortion for any reason, to at least 28 weeks and possibly up to birth”.
Some of the doctors are now so disappointed that they are quitting their union, saying it has been “hijacked” by people pushing an “extreme” agenda.
Dr Jessica Hudson, a 29-year-old junior paediatrician who works in the neo-natal unit at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford, quit two days after the vote. “I no longer felt I was represented,” she said.
“As a doctor who looks after babies from 23 weeks, I am really happy that the babies we look after have a complete right to life enshrined in the UK law.
“We wouldn’t dream of withdrawing care from a baby in one of the incubators at our neo-natal unit just because parents didn’t want it. Just because a baby is in a womb, not an incubator, I still believe that it deserves legal protection over its rights.”
Dr David Jackson, who works at the Royal Gwent Hospital, said he could not “in good conscience” remain a member of the BMA and described its decision as a “betrayal of the Hippocratic Oath”.
The doctors were among more than 20 who contacted the Mail on Sunday after the vote at the BMA annual representative conference. The vote means that any political campaign to allow abortion up to birth will now be seen to have doctors’ approval.
Government caves in to demands to fund abortions
The government has been strongly criticised after caving in to demands to give women from Northern Ireland free abortions on the NHS.
Chancellor Philip Hammond said in the House of Commons that the Government would provide free abortions for women travelling from Northern Ireland to the mainland.
Labour MP Stella Creasy had tabled an amendment to the Queen’s Speech calling for the move. The DUP, which struck a “confidence and supply” deal with the Government, opposed it.
If the amendment had passed, it would have become an integral part of the Queen’s Speech, causing a huge problem for the Government, due to its reliance on the DUP.
However, Ms Creasy withdrew the amendment following the publication of a letter by Equalities Minister Justine Greening which confirmed the new funding provision.
Peter D Williams, executive officer at Right to Life, said: “This decision is an illiberal, anti-democratic disgrace. It will lead to the deaths of many more unborn children, despite the deliberate wish of the Northern Irish people to maintain protections for unborn children.
Pro-lifers pack streets of Dublin
About 70,000 people took part in a pro-life rally in Dublin on Saturday.
Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has promised to hold a referendum on whether Ireland should repeal the Eighth Amendment, which prohibits abortion unless the life of the mother is at risk.
David Quinn, of the Iona Institute, said the turn-out signalled “very strong resistance” to changing the law.
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