I came across this article in The Independent a week or two ago.
The way I understood the article, reasons to refuse doing abortions are not just purely religious grounds, but also ethical and moral grounds.
Any thoughts on what affect this may have?
glo
Full article http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/health_medical/article2452408.eceBritain is facing an abortion crisis because an unprecedented number of doctors are refusing to be involved in carrying out the procedure. The exodus of doctors prepared to perform the task is a nationwide phenomenon that threatens to plunge the abortion service into chaos, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has warned.
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Distaste at performing terminations combined with ethical and religious convictions has led to a big increase in "conscientious objectors" who request exemption from the task, the RCOG says. A key factor is what specialists call "the dinner party test". Gynaecologists who specialise in fertility treatment creating babies for childless couples are almost universally revered - but no one boasts of being an abortionist.
As a result, after decades of campaigning, anti-abortion organisations may be on the point of achieving their objective by default. Repeated efforts to tighten the law have failed and public opinion remains firmly in support, but the growing number of doctors refusing to do the work means there may soon not be enough prepared to carry out terminations to meet demand.
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He [Richard Warren] added: "There is an ethos that people go into medicine to save lives and look after people. Usually, a decision for termination is taken reluctantly even though it is recognised that it is in the best interests of the woman. It is difficult and upsetting work and it is done with obvious reticence. We are seeing more doctors who are reluctant to be involved in the process and this is happening in the context of growing demand."
Doctors have always been able to opt out of doing abortions on religious grounds. But, since the 1990s, guidance issued by the Faculty of Family Planning and the RCOG has included a conscientious objection clause.
Kate Guthrie, a spokesperson on family planning for the RCOG and a consultant in sexual and reproductive health in the North of England, said: "You get no thanks for performing abortions; you get spat on. Who admits to friends at a dinner party that they are an abortionist? It is not a sexy area; it is a bog standard area of women's care. The problem is that the more who exit the area, the more those that remain are dumped on [with extra work].
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The way I understood the article, reasons to refuse doing abortions are not just purely religious grounds, but also ethical and moral grounds.
Any thoughts on what affect this may have?
glo