Royal College of Midwives Must Not Betray their Profession
Royal College of Midwives Campaigns for Abortion Up Until Birth for Any Reason: Not In Our Name
Royal College of Midwives Campaigns for Abortion Up Until Birth for Any Reason: Not In Our Name
UPDATE: (20/05) Chief Executive of the RCM, Cathy Warwick, has previously recognised: “…midwives and abortion, [it] doesn’t quite go together.” At a family planning conference hosted by the Royal Society of Medicine, she also discussed “how we get around” current abortion law. (For more information, click here)
The pressure on the RCM is mounting. Please sign this petition in opposition to the recent extreme and undemocratic stance of the RCM.
UPDATE: (19/05) The RCM have stated:
“Contrary to the distorted and sensationalist accounts touted by certain newspapers and lobbyists, the reality is that our position… recommends that abortion procedures to be regulated in the same way as all other procedures relating to women’s healthcare.
Accordingly the RCM believes that abortion should be removed from the criminal law.”
If no abortion is subject to criminal law, this means that an abortion performed by a doctor at any stage of pregnancy would be legally permitted. In which case, the RCM are campaigning for abortion at any stage of pregnancy for any reason.
This interpretation is confirmed by Ann Furedi’s – Chief Executive of BPAS – comments at the launch of the We Trust Women campaign: “there should be absolutely no grounds for abortion whatsoever… there should be no legal upper limit, that is what taking it out of the criminal law means.”
This is also confirmed by Director of Services to Members at the Royal College Midwives, Dr Suzanne Tyler, when she appeared on Good Morning Britain on Tuesday (17/05)
"In theory the decriminalisation yes does mean that there are no abortion limits"
***
On 9 February 2016, the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) announced their support for a campaign run by abortion provider the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) calling for the legalisation of abortion up-to-birth for any reason. On 6 May 2016, the Royal College issued a position statement that explicitly supported the aims of this campaign, the limitation of conscience rights for midwives, and the extension of the Abortion Act 1967 to Northern Ireland.
Abortion up to birth for any reason: In what is a kind of tragic irony, the RCM – representatives of that profession which exists for the purpose of assisting women in child birth – is now backing the extremist position of campaigning for the legalisation of abortion up until birth for any reason whatsoever. This would include sex-selective abortion and abortion of babies with disabilities up until the moment they are born.
Only China, North Korea (hardly beacons of human rights and dignity), Vietnam and Canada have such permissive abortions laws. The Canadian Medical Association Journal had this to say about the situation in Canada: “Easy access to abortion and advances in prenatal sex determination have combined to make Canada a haven for parents who would terminate female fetuses in favour of having sons.”
Needless to say these countries and their abhorrent practices are hardly the kind of thing which the UK should wish to copy.
Limitation of Conscience Rights for Midwives: The RCM are now supporting the limiting of conscience rights by requiring midwives to refer for abortions. The General Medical Council requires no such thing of medical professionals.
This is grave form of discrimination against people with differing political views and one which the RCM has no authority to make.
Not only are the RCM advancing this extreme position, but their doing so is completely out of touch with what most women want.
2012 polling on whether time limits for abortion should be increased showed that only 2% of women wanted the time limit to be extended to more than 24 weeks (and most likely even lower if asked on to birth - the RCM position), in contrast to 59% of women who favoured a reduction in time limits.
No consultation: the RCM did not consult its members at all in its adopting of this extreme position. This is profoundly insulting to its members and implies that this is an agenda advanced by an elite few against the views of the rest of the its members. This however, is hardly surprising when the Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives, Cathy Warwick, is also the head of the board of trustees for abortion provider BPAS. There is clearly a serious conflict of interests here and Ms Warwick is clearly unable to hold such a high position in both organisations.
Sign this petition to Cathy Warwick, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives and the head of the board of trustees for abortion provider BPAS, demanding that she retract the RCM’s support for the ‘We Trust Women’ campaign; that she retract the RCM extreme position on abortion; and that she consult with the members of the RCM on these important issues before any formal statements are made.
PS If you are a midwife, please visit the link below : http://notinourname.co/
https://www.rcm.org.uk/news-views-and-analysis/news/rcm-clarifies-media-...
https://www.rcm.org.uk/sites/default/files/RCM%20Abortion%20Statement.pdf
http://www.prowomanprolife.org/2014/02/25/canada-is-one-of-four-countrie...
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3281173/
http://angusreidglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/03/table_abortion_bri...
http://www.cmfblog.org.uk/2016/05/12/new-rcm-abortion-statement-is-a-fur...
http://www.wetrustwomen.org.uk/the-coalition/
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3591935/Midwives-revolt-abortion...
Complete your signature
Sign this petition now!
Royal College of Midwives Must Not Betray the Profession of Midwifery
Dear Cathy Warwick, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives and the head of the board of trustees for BPAS,
I write to you to express my extreme disappointment and anger at the Royal College of Midwives’ support for the extremist “We Trust Women” campaign by abortion provider BPAS.
It is extremely saddening that a profession which is directed towards helping mothers to give birth to their children is now actively promoting the destruction of those children at any stage of pregnancy. Not only that, but in doing so, you are also attempting to restrict the conscientious rights of members of your college – whom you did not even consult – in their involvement in abortion.
Your campaign is severely out of touch with what women actually think and want. A ComRes poll in March 2014 found that 88% of women favoured a total and explicit ban on sex-selective abortion, whilst another in October that year registered a similar figure of 85%. The March poll also found 92% of women agreeing that a woman requesting an abortion should always be seen in person by a qualified doctor. Whilst in 2006, a Guardian / MORI poll found that 47% of women wanted a reduction in the upper time limit, a 2012 Angus Reid poll found this number had increased to 59% of women.
I implore you to listen to these women and the many midwives in the college. Most do not share the views of a small number in the RCM.
You say “We Trust Women”: I ask you ‘which women? The born or the unborn? And why not both?’
Your positions represent a disgraceful betrayal of your profession and must be undone.
I demand therefore that you retract the RCM’s support for the ‘We Trust Women’ campaign; that you retract the RCM's extreme position on abortion; that you respect the full conscientious rights of midwives; and that you consult with the members of the RCM on these important issues before any formal statements are made.
Royal College of Midwives Must Not Betray the Profession of Midwifery
Dear Cathy Warwick, Chief Executive of the Royal College of Midwives and the head of the board of trustees for BPAS,
I write to you to express my extreme disappointment and anger at the Royal College of Midwives’ support for the extremist “We Trust Women” campaign by abortion provider BPAS.
It is extremely saddening that a profession which is directed towards helping mothers to give birth to their children is now actively promoting the destruction of those children at any stage of pregnancy. Not only that, but in doing so, you are also attempting to restrict the conscientious rights of members of your college – whom you did not even consult – in their involvement in abortion.
Your campaign is severely out of touch with what women actually think and want. A ComRes poll in March 2014 found that 88% of women favoured a total and explicit ban on sex-selective abortion, whilst another in October that year registered a similar figure of 85%. The March poll also found 92% of women agreeing that a woman requesting an abortion should always be seen in person by a qualified doctor. Whilst in 2006, a Guardian / MORI poll found that 47% of women wanted a reduction in the upper time limit, a 2012 Angus Reid poll found this number had increased to 59% of women.
I implore you to listen to these women and the many midwives in the college. Most do not share the views of a small number in the RCM.
You say “We Trust Women”: I ask you ‘which women? The born or the unborn? And why not both?’
Your positions represent a disgraceful betrayal of your profession and must be undone.
I demand therefore that you retract the RCM’s support for the ‘We Trust Women’ campaign; that you retract the RCM's extreme position on abortion; that you respect the full conscientious rights of midwives; and that you consult with the members of the RCM on these important issues before any formal statements are made.
