A national doctors’ conference has rejected a proposal to force GPs to make their views on abortion known to patients.
The plan could have forced doctors with conscientious objections to abortion to publicise their views, so that women seeking terminations would be unlikely to see them.
Leading pro-abortion campaigner Dr Evan Harris MP tabled the motion at the conference of the British Medical Association.
However, delegates at the conference voted against his proposals.
It is thought that around one in five doctors will not sign abortion referral forms. One Christian doctor, Tammie Downes, was recently cleared of any wrong-doing, after accusations were made that she had broken guidelines by discussing alternative options with women seeking abortion.
Recent research by the Christian Medical Fellowship suggests that in countries where the law requires women seeking terminations to have counselling or a ‘cooling-off’ period, the abortion rate is significantly lower than countries where it is available ‘on demand’.
