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“It’s a medical issue” - Pregnancy doctors reach consensus that abortion should not be a crime

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Becky Kells, Editor, AllAboutLaw

Last updated 4th October 2017

After holding a debate on the issue, the Council for the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) have spoken out against abortion being classed as a criminal offence. As it stands, a woman who has an abortion without the prior approval of two doctors is liable for prosecution and could serve a prison sentence.

Yet the Council have called for abortion to be treated as a medical procedure rather than in a criminal context, in a debate in which a range of views was expressed by members. The Council is representative of doctors who provide abortions across England, Scotland and Wales, so a stance on decriminalisation from this organisation is very relevant to how the abortion debate will proceed.

Professor Lesley Regan, the president of the Council, expressed that she was “pleased” that a decision had been made to support the decriminalisation of abortion, saying it would enable the college to “contribute to the debate surrounding what a post decriminalisation landscape might look like”. However, Regan was quick to stress that decriminalisation would not, in the Council’s view, mean deregulation of abortion, saying abortion “should be subject to regulatory and professional standards, in line with other medical procedures”.

 

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