Petition to Janet Davies, RCN
Royal College of Nurses: You Must Reject Abortion Up Until Birth
Royal College of Nurses: You Must Reject Abortion Up Until Birth
The Royal College of Nurses (RCN) are now consulting their members about whether or not the organisation should support the ‘decriminalisation’ of abortion.
The RCN are trying to maintain that this consultation is not about the time limit for abortions nor is it about conscientious refusals. To state this is either wholly ignorant of what ‘decriminalisation’ means or is disingenuous.
The Abortion Act 1967 is based on exemptions from prosecution under section 58 of the Offences Against The Person Act 1861 (which otherwise prohibits abortion throughout pregnancy), and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 (which prohibits ‘child destruction’ beyond 28 weeks). If abortion is removed from criminal law, then this must entail either repealing section 58 of the 1861 Act, or also repealing the 1929 Act.
If the former, then abortion would be legalised up to 28 weeks, and the regulations of the Abortion Act voided up to that point in pregnancy. If the latter, then abortion would be legalised up to birth, and the Abortion Act would become a dead letter (which would, amongst other things, void the conscience protections it contains).
To be clear: if abortion is ‘decriminalised’ completely, no abortion would be subject to criminal law, which means that an abortion performed by a doctor and assisted by a nurse (or even performed by a nurse) at any stage of pregnancy would be legally permitted. In which case, the RCN are considering whether to campaign for abortion on demand, for any reason, at any stage of pregnancy. This would include sex-selective abortion and abortion of babies with disabilities up until the moment they are born.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) is one of Britain's largest abortion providers and one of the main lobby groups pushing for the "decriminalisation" of abortion. The head of BPAS, Ann Furedi, has confirmed that decriminalisation means that “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".
Abortion up to birth for any reason: the RCN is now considering 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 should be imitated in the UK.
Women do not want abortion ‘decriminalisation’: Not only are the RCN advancing this extreme position, but their doing so is completely out of touch with what most women want.
A ComRes poll commissioned by Where Do They Stand in 2017 showed that only 1% of the population want the abortion limit raised until birth and in fact a full 70% of women would like the current time limit for abortion to be lowered. Importantly, 91% of women want a sex-selective abortion ban, but decriminalisation would permit abortion on these grounds.
Please sign this petition urging the RCN to reject this extremist abortion proposal.
http://www.comresglobal.com/polls/where-do-they-stand-abortion-survey/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3281173/
https://www.rcn.org.uk/professional-development/publications/pdf-006797