GPs to perform abortions with RU486

Action: please write to your GP, MP and the Health Minister. This is an important step in the 'normalisation' of abortion as a routine and minor medical procedure; whereas the psychological harm it does and the medical risks involed would demand it be done - even if there were no moral objections - in a properly controlled environment, with counselling and emergency services on hand.

From SPUC: It is reported in today's media that the government is trialling the use in doctors' surgeries of the abortion drug RU486. Currently RU486 is only given to women in hospitals and certain clinics. The government is conducting the trial at two undisclosed locations.

Please take action by writing or emailing your GP, opposing the government's trial and expressing your opposition to this proposal to bring abortion into GP practices:

* It ignores completely the rights of the unborn child

* it turns health facilities into abortion facilities

* it affects staff and patients, who will not want to be associated with an abortion centre

* like many abortion-related policies, this move trivialises or ignores a significant body of medical opinion and human experience which shows that abortion carries risks for women

* conveyor-belt abortion gives women less time to think and creates even more pressure on them before having an abortion

* it is an attack on conscientious objection, trying to wear down the medical profession's increasing resistance to abortion

* doctors must take a stand against this now. A recent survey found that 70% of PCTs said they would be prepared to threaten denying pharmacists a license if they refused to provide the morning-after pill (Levonelle) to under-16 year-olds without parental consent. [Express, 3 Dec] What is permitted today may become mandatory tomorrow.

Extend the influence of your message by sending a copy (with appropriate covering note) to your local MP.

MPs can be contacted either by writing to them:

* by post at the House of Commons, London SW1A 0AA, or

* by email. If you know the name of your MP, you can find his/her email
address by surname via the links at www.spuc.org.uk/lobbying/email If you
don't know the name of your MP, please visit here which you can also use to email your MP.

Please also copy your message to your local print and/or broadcast media. You should be able to find the websites of your local media by doing a word search via a search engine e.g. Google.

Please remember to copy any replies you receive to SPUC c/o Anthony Ozimic, SPUC Political Secretary, at political@spuc.org.uk or at SPUC, 5-6 St Matthew Street, Westminster, London SW1P 2JT.