Abortion restrictions in Harley Street welcome, says SPUC

Abortion restrictions in Harley Street welcome, says SPUC Westminster, 13th February 2007 - News that the owners of the prestigious Harley Street medical district of London have banned its tenant-doctors from performing 'lifestyle' abortions, as well as euthanasia and human cloning, has been welcomed by the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC). Anthony Ozimic, SPUC political secretary, commented: "Abortion is always wrong, as it kills children and hurts women. As abortion providers admit, the vast majority of abortions are performed for social reasons. Many if not most women who visit abortion providers tell them that easy access to contraception didn't stop them falling pregnant (see note below). Such safety-net abortions are illegal under the letter of the Abortion Act 1967, under which abortion may only be performed for health reasons, albeit couched in vague terms which are widely exploited or flouted. The Harley Street estate is absolutely right to exclude lifestyle abortions from its premises. Abortion, euthanasia and human cloning are not medical treatments but abuses of human life. We would urge those responsible to exclude abortion altogether, as upholding the right to life of all - born and unborn - is the only ethically defensible position." Note: Ann Furedi, 'The causes of unplanned pregnancy', 1997 "Contraceptive failure is a significant cause of accidental pregnancy. Anne Fleissig found that over two thirds (69 per cent) of the women in her study who had become unintentionally pregnant claimed to have been using a method of contraception at the time they conceived. Other research has shown similar results. A study of 769 women requesting abortion in the NHS, conducted by David Bromham, chair of the faculty of Family Planning and Reproductive Health care of the Royal College of Obstetrician and Gynaecologists found that 68 per cent had conceived as a result of a failure of contraceptive method. A previous study, published in the British Journal of Family Planning, found that of 1 020 women referred for abortions, a fifth claimed to have been using the pill, one of the methods commonly regarded as the most effective. A working party report on unplanned pregnancy by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists acknowledges that contraceptives let couples down, but they also draw attention to the fact that just as contraceptives are fallible, so are their users."