Anne Quesney, Director of Abortion Rights said:
'The fall in the number of doctors performing abortions is a cause for concern, long-term jeopardising women’s access to service provision. It is likely to mean more women will face unacceptable delays before they can access the procedure. It also reinforces the importance of allowing suitably trained nurses to perform early abortions

'But, fewer doctors prioritising abortion as a career choice is more a product of changes is teaching structures and workload rather than a shift in opinion over the morality of abortion. Abortion Rights' recent poll indicates support for a woman’s right to have an abortion remains at a huge three quarters and shows no signs of declining.

'We support the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ call for abortion to be made part of the core teaching curriculum for student doctors from August to ensure abortion services continue to be seen as an integral part of women’s health.

'Abortion was legalised in Britain in 1967 primarily to save women’s lives but, 40 years on, few doctors have faced the horrors of back-street abortion and do not always recognise the importance of providing this very necessary service.'

ENDS

For more information, or to arrange an interview, please contact Anne Quesney, Director on 020 7923 9792 or 07909 974 101

Notes to editor:

1. Abortion Rights is the national pro-choice campaign, working to defend and extend abortion rights and provide a pro-choice voice to the media.

2. Abortion Rights is campaigning to:
• Liberalise the current UK abortion law and make abortion available on request.
• Improve access to, and experience of, abortion – ensure that all women in the UK have equal access to safe, legal and free abortion.
• Oppose any restrictions to women’s current rights and access to abortion.

3. Abortion in the UK
• One in three women has an abortion in her lifetime.
• Abortion laws in the UK are more restrictive than in almost every other European country, where abortion on request is legal in the first three months of pregnancy
• Abortion has been legal in Britain since 1967, but only by permission of two doctors and in restricted circumstances.
• Ten per cent of GPs consider themselves to be conscientious objectors and frequently refuse to grant women an abortion, despite General Medical Council guidelines.
• The 1967 Abortion Act was never extended to Northern Ireland.

• A recent opinion poll conducted by GFK/NOP and commissioned by Abortion Rights and the Joseph Rowntree Reform Trust on 04 –05 March 2007 revealed the following:

‘Do you think that women should or should not have the right to choose and abortion in the first three months of pregnancy?’

77 per cent agree 17 per cent disagreed 6 per cent did not know.

‘Do you think it is acceptable or unacceptable that a woman who has been referred for an abortion should have to wait beyond three weeks for the procedure?’

72 per cent said it was not acceptable 17 per cent said it was acceptable 7 per cent said that they did not know.

• In addition, only three per cent stated that ‘under no circumstances would it be acceptable to have an abortion’.