{"id":7748,"date":"2017-03-24T21:10:30","date_gmt":"2017-03-25T04:10:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.consciencelaws.org\/?p=7748"},"modified":"2023-01-22T15:30:00","modified_gmt":"2023-01-22T23:30:00","slug":"abortion-decriminalisation-and-statutory-rights-of-conscience","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=7748","title":{"rendered":"Abortion decriminalisation and statutory rights of conscience"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<h4 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Mary Neal<\/h4>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"alignleft size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"200\" height=\"112\" src=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/03\/bmjopinion-1.jpg\" alt=\"BMJ Opinion\" class=\"wp-image-11378\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">BMJ Opinion<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n<p><strong>Extract<\/strong><br>On 13&nbsp;March 2017, the House of Commons voted by 172 to 142 in favour of a second reading for the Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill. The bill, introduced by Diana Johnson MP, <a href=\"http:\/\/www.bmj.com\/content\/356\/bmj.j1485\">would decriminalise abortion until the end of the 24th&nbsp;week of pregnancy<\/a>, meaning that abortion could be performed until the end of the 24th week of pregnancy without the need to satisfy any statutory grounds, or to obtain two doctors&#8217; authorisation. Many campaigners see this bill as a first step toward the longer-term goal of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.wetrustwomen.org.uk\/about-the-campaign\/\"> fully decriminalising abortion<\/a>. [1]<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The prospect of decriminalisation raises a number of interesting and important issues, including an issue which has been neglected in the debates over decriminalisation so far, namely what any change in the law might mean for the right of health professionals to withdraw from participation in abortion on grounds of conscience, under section 4 of the Abortion Act 1967. . . .<\/p>\n\n\n\n<hr class=\"wp-block-separator has-css-opacity\"\/>\n\n\n\n<p>Neal M.  <a href=\"http:\/\/blogs.bmj.com\/bmj\/2017\/03\/24\/mary-neal-abortion-decriminalisation-and-statutory-rights-of-conscience\/\">Abortion decriminalisation and statutory rights of conscience<\/a>. the bmjopinion [Internet]. 2017 Mar 24.  <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mary Neal ExtractOn 13&nbsp;March 2017, the House of Commons voted by 172 to 142 in favour of a second reading for the Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill. The bill, introduced by Diana Johnson MP, would decriminalise abortion until the end of the 24th&nbsp;week of pregnancy, meaning that abortion could be performed until the end &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/library.consciencelaws.org\/?p=7748\" class=\"more-link\">Continue reading<span class=\"screen-reader-text\"> &#8220;Abortion decriminalisation and statutory rights of conscience&#8221;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11,2,559],"tags":[353,256],"post_folder":[],"class_list":["post-7748","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-abortion","category-journal-article","category-law","tag-ann-furedi","tag-mary-neal"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\r\n<title>Abortion decriminalisation and statutory rights of conscience - Protection of Conscience Project Library<\/title>\r\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Decriminalising abortion may have implications for health professionals who conscientiously object to it. 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