BMA supports making ‘dangerous’ DIY abortions permanent

The British Medical Association has voted in support of keeping DIY home abortions legal after the pandemic.

As part of its coronavirus regulations, the Government has permitted women to take abortion pills at home if the unborn child is less than ten weeks old.

The change was initially only to last up to two years, but ministers have announced there will be a consultation on making it permanent, and the BMA has now said it would support this.

Disagreement

During the organisation’s Annual Representative Meeting, members voted to support the “continuation of these remote services post-pandemic”.

Among those doctors criticising the motion was Melody Redman, a clinical genetics trainee in Yorkshire, who said the move would remove “current safeguards”.

She added: “Face-to-face consultations allow appropriate clinical assessment and risk management.

“Remote services mean no ultrasound scanning, so no checking for ectopics, no qualification of gestation beyond a woman’s last menstrual period.”

Murder investigation

In July, a murder investigation was launched into the death of a new-born baby after the mother took abortion pills.

There is also a separate investigation under way into the deaths of two other mothers after taking the pills.

However, during the BMA’s debate, Professor Wendy Savage, who in 2017 said that an unborn child is “not an actual human life”, claimed that no serious complications had been recorded.

Dangerous

The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children’s Michael J. Robinson said it was “shocking” to see the BMA support such a policy.

He said: “This policy is impossible to regulate, dangerous for women, and is leading to greater loss of human life. It has no place in healthcare.”