XPost: 24hoursupport.helpdesk, alt.politics.scorched-earth, uk.politics.misc   
   XPost: uk.legal, alt.politics.uk   
   From: burfordTjustice@tues.uk   
      
   All for the Greater good,eh?   
      
   Sex-selective abortions should be allowed, British Medical Association   
   ethics expert says   
      
      
      
   Forcing pregnant women who do not want a child of one sex or the other to give   
   birth could harm both the baby and the mother's mental health, a leading   
   doctors' union member has said.   
      
   Prof Wendy Savage, a voting member of the British Medical Association Council,   
   also said women should have the right to terminate a pregnancy at any stage.   
      
   The comments by Prof Savage, a women's rights campaigner and retired   
   obstetrician and gynaecologist, come after a proposal to decriminalise   
   terminations passed the first hurdle in the House of Commons last week.   
      
   Her intervention is likely to spark a strong reaction from campaigners on both   
   sides of the argument.   
      
   Prof Savage said sex-selective abortions were a "myth" and hit out at NHS   
   hospitals which refused to disclose an unborn baby's sex.   
      
   Parents wanting to find out the sex of their baby can usually do so in a   
   mid-term scan at between 18 to 21 weeks, but some hospitals have a policy of   
   not telling, according to the NHS Choices website.   
      
   Under current laws, it is illegal for a woman to have an abortion after 24   
   weeks for non-medical reasons   
      
   Prof Savage, speaking in a personal capacity, told the Mail on Sunday:   
   "Because of this sort of anxiety, some places won't tell the woman the sex of   
   the foetus, which is outrageous.   
      
   "It's her body and her foetus, so she should have that information ... if a   
   woman does not want to have a foetus who is one sex or the other, forcing her   
   (to go through with the pregnancy) is not going to be good for the eventual   
   child, and it's not    
   going to be good for (the mother's) mental health."   
      
   Under current laws, it is illegal for a woman to have an abortion after 24   
   weeks for non-medical reasons and each procedure must be signed off by two   
   doctors before it can go ahead.   
      
   But Prof Savage said in her experience she only had a "couple" of cases over   
   more than 24 weeks.   
      
   She told the newspaper: "It is a woman's right to decide. It's her body. She   
   is the one taking the risks.   
      
   "The foetus is a potential human life at that stage (in the womb); it is not   
   an actual human life ... I think you've got to concentrate on the (rights of   
   the) woman."   
      
   MPs last week voted in favour of the Reproductive Health (Access to   
   Terminations) Bill, which would remove criminal sanctions for women and   
   doctors in England and Wales and place regulation with professional bodies.   
      
   But Christian MP Maria Caulfield warned the change could bring about a rise in   
   "back street abortions".   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)