Almost a quarter of GPs 'won't refer abortions'
Almost a quarter of GPs 'won't refer abortions'
By Nic Fleming, Medical Correspondent
Last Updated: 2:04am BST 03/05/2007
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Almost a quarter of family doctors are refusing to sign forms that women need completed in order to have an abortion, according to a survey.
The poll, published by the doctors' newspaper Pulse, said 19 per cent of GPs believe abortions should be illegal.
Some 24 per cent of the 309 doctors surveyed said they refused to sign abortion referral forms and 55 per cent said they thought the 24-week limit for terminations should be reduced.
The law states a woman must get two doctors to sign the form to show she meets the grounds that make abortion legal.
Dr Rob Hardie left his Wiltshire practice in 2004 after refusing to sign the new GP contract, partly, he said, because of the guidelines on abortion.
He said: "With abortion, there's the ethical problem of destroying a life, and even if you have different beliefs, there's surely an ethical problem in doctors being forced to do something that they do not believe in. It's immoral and unjust.
"So it's fantastic to see young doctors making a stand against this - not just Catholics but other Christians and Muslims too."
Dr Robbie Foy, clinical senior lecturer at Newcastle University, who has conducted research on abortion, described current access to abortion services as "a lottery".
He said: "We must provide reliable, secure and non-judgmental care. Many women are still not getting this at present and face unacceptable delays which increase the risks of complications as well as causing additional anxiety.
"Any sort of trend towards more doctors refusing to participate in induced abortion will risk marginalising this essential service."
Rebecca Findlay, of the Family Planning Association, said: "We know this is a real issue because we get many calls from women in this situation.
"Doctors who have ethical reasons for doing this should be pointing the women to other GPs or clinics who can help them but we know that does not always happen and women are left basically abandoned."
It is possible Pulse's sample was not representative of the UK's 40,000 GPs as it only took account of the views of those who replied to a survey on a range of ethical issues.
However, Ann Furedi, the chief executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, a sexual healthcare charity specialising in abortion services, said: "Pulse's findings differ from weighted, representative UK public opinion poll results which have shown majority support for safe, legal abortion for several decades.
"The majority of the public are clearly supportive of doctors who provide abortion care, and are sensitive as to why a woman may need the choice of abortion.
"Extreme levels of disagreement with the availability of abortion has always been low amongst the general public, but dropped to about three per cent in a recent poll."
A spokesman for the Department of Health said: "If GPs feel their beliefs might affect the treatment, this must be explained to the patient who should be told of their right to see another doctor."
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