EMBARGO: Immediate Release
Date: 19 April 2007
Enquiries: Dr Tseliso Nkuebe
Mobile: +27 83 957 0832

According to the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists in the United Kingdom, there has been a big rise in the number of doctors who have conscientious objection to participating in abortion. The increasing number of medical doctors who are opting out of performing abortions may be a contributing factor to the looming crisis in the National Health Service. With the highest number of teenage pregnancies in the world, 190 000 abortions are performed annually in the UK.

Doctors and nurses in the UK can opt out of carrying out abortions due to a clause in the 1967 Abortion Act that says "no person shall be under any duty... to participate in any treatment authorised by this Act to which he has a conscientious objection". In South Africa, however, many health workers are still forced to participate in abortion. This continues to happen in spite of promises made by the ANC that the constitutional right to freedom of conscience will be upheld in this respect. Doctors For Life International (DFL) sympathises with health workers in South Africa and its legal team often assists doctors and nurses in the protection of their fundamental rights. Studies have actually shown that health workers who take part in abortion suffer from the same psychological consequences as the women who have had an abortion.

This increase in doctors refusing to do abortion is bound to happen because of the scientifically accepted fact that the life of a human being starts at conception. With the legalisation of abortion-on-demand in South Africa in 1997, DFL warned the Department of Health that the vast majority of health workers oppose abortion. However, as a result of the Department’s failure to take this into consideration, many doctors and nurses now face the infringement of their constitutional right to freedom of conscience.

DFL therefore calls on the Department of Health to take note of what is happening in the UK, and to take steps to ensure that health workers with conscientious objection against the abortion procedure are not intimidated or discriminated against.

DFL is an association of more than 1300 medical doctors and professors. Since it inception in 1991 DFL has been active in emphasizing the scientifically proven humanity of the unborn child, as well as providing assistance to women with unwanted pregnancies. DFL also offers free legal advice to health professionals who have conscientious objection to the abortion procedure.

For more information, go to: www.doctorsforlifeinternational.com