MPs' committee on abortion: make it easier

Briefing. The idea that this represents an opportunity for a tightening of the law is out of touch with reality.

From CFNews: A report by UK MPs recommends that the requirement for two doctors to authorise an abortion should be abolished, while the 24-week upper time limit [which applies only to abortions for the weakest grounds] should not be reduced. The committee for science and technology also advocates that nurses and midwives should be allowed to perform early abortions. Two members of the committee, Dr Bob Spink and Ms Nadine Dorries, a former gynaecological nurse, will table a minority report based on evidence the committee reportedly ignored. Their report will call for a number of measures to tighten the present law. [Anthony Ozimic, SPUC political secretary, criticised the majority report on several grounds and called on pro-life MPs to vote against the Human Tissue and Embryos Bill.] A number of pro-life doctors who gave evidence to the committee were asked to declare their affiliations to campaigning groups. A committee member suggested that their initial failure to do so indicated an attempt to skew the evidence, while another accused doctors of giving evidence on areas outside their own expertise. A letter to the Times claimed that the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists gave selective evidence on foetal pain to the committee. In their letter, the seven signatories, including three consultant obstetricians, pointed out that the RCOG failed to take into account the work of Professor Anand, a world authority on the management of neonatal pain. [Ms Donna Nicholson, spokeswoman for SPUC Scotland, has written an article defending the rights of the unborn, and pointing out that access to abortion has not improved the lot of women as promised. The Royal College of Nursing has published on its website an official response to the Science and Technology Committee's report which concurs with all its main recommendations. The RCN states 'There is no other medical or surgical procedure which requires the consent of a medical practitioner or the signature of two doctors before it is carried out.' SPUC comments: 'The RCN has been criticised for failing to consult widely with its members before promoting nurses as abortion practitioners. The latest statement seems absurd in its implication that doctors have no say in what medical treatment their patients receive.'