A report by the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group (APPG) has found that UK doctors who do not wish to participate in abortion procedures are often refused the right to conscientious objection.
The inquiry warns that the 1967 Abortion Act clause, which allows medical staff to abstain from abortion procedures for ethical reasons, is not being upheld. The report concludes: "There is widespread and increasing pressure on healthcare professionals to participate in abortions."
Fiona Bruce MP, who chairs the APPG, said: "This report reveals concerning evidence of doctors and other healthcare professionals being harassed, abused, and denied career choices, as a result of seeking to exercise their legal right to conscientiously object to being involved in the abortion process."
Evidence submitted
The APPG is made up of several MPs including Labour MP Rob Flello, DUP MP Jim Shannon, and Lord David Alton of Liverpool.
The group issued a call for evidence from 14 June to 11 July, and an Oral Evidence session was held in Parliament. Several separate interviews were also conducted.
Inadequate observance of legislation
Concluding that conscientious objection is not being sufficiently protected, the group stated:
"The APPG holds that this is, in large part, due to inadequate observance of the current legislation, even in some instances involving a disregard of the Conscience Clause."
The British Medical Association told the group that doctors who refuse to take part in abortion procedures are facing increasing harassment and discrimination.
Healthcare professionals who do not agree with abortion are being denied career promotions, and staff are coming under "widespread and increasing pressure" to participate in abortions.
Bar to office
Some said that objection to abortion could be a bar to office.
In her oral evidence, Dr Arianne Shahvisi, lecturer in Medical Ethics and Humanities at the University of Sussex, said that students should not go into medicine if they were not willing to participate in abortions.
She said: "If a person finds abortion objectionable, they should not pursue employment in which their only options are to be at one or two removes from abortion provision."
Instead, she believes they should seek another career route, because "in disclosing a moral reservation, doctors risk producing moral distress in the patient or even of deterring the patient from proceeding with the abortion."
Bioethicist Iain Brassington, who submitted written evidence to the Inquiry, said:
"If a medic chooses to work in reproductive medicine, Obs & Gynae, and so on, it seems reasonable that s/he should be prepared to carry out elective abortions [i.e. an abortion which is not ‘medically necessary’]."
Ways to strengthen freedom of conscience
The parliamentary report concluded with ways in which freedom of conscience can be strengthened in the UK.
One option put forward was to legislate for reasonable accommodation, which would give greater protection to those with a conscientious objection.
The Christian Medical Fellowship highlighted that in many cases, staff are already given reasonable accommodation when they sensitively raise the issue, although APPG stated that this is not always the case.
The APPG suggested an amendment to the 2010 Equality Act to provide for reasonable accommodation.
Other recommendations from the report included medical bodies adopting the guidelines of the General Medical Council with regards to freedom of conscience, and considering extending conscientious objection to indirect participation.
Related Links:
Final report - Inquiry into Freedom of Conscience in Abortion Provision - All Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group
Doctors who won't carry out abortions 'are not promoted': Staff say they face a glass ceiling if they object to the procedure (Mail)l