Radical pro-abortion campaign support from U.K. midwife union was made without members' knowledge

The Royal College of Midwives said that it gives "full support" to a radical pro-abortion campaign, a move that has sparked calls for the union's head to step down.

According to The Telegraph, the RCM said that it is backing a campaign spearheaded by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service -- the largest abortion provider in the United Kingdom -- calling for abortion to be decriminalized. In essence, this is to have the current law scrapped, allowing pregnancies to be terminated at anytime. The decision to support the campaign was apparently made without consulting RCM's 30,000-strong membership composed of health workers and midwives.

"For the organisation that represents us to support the radical position that all protections for unborn children should be removed ... we find utterly unacceptable," a letter by the members of the RCM says. "It is out of keeping with what we take to be the ethic of our profession, as well as the consistently expressed wishes of British women with regards to the legality and regulation of abortion, and it has been taken with no consultation whatsoever of RCM membership."

Prof. Cathy Warwick, the chief executive of the RCM, is also the chairman of the board of trustees of the BPAS. Christian Medical Fellowship chief executive Peter Saunders points this out as "blatant conflict of interest" and said, according to The Christian Institute, that Warwick "needs to step down either from the RCM, or BPAS but cannot continue in both positions."

Likewise, MP Andrew Percy of the House of Commons Health Select Committee said, "She represents midwives, many of whom will absolutely not agree with this campaign, and she should think very hard about whether or not her position is sustainable."

Called "We Trust Women," the campaign is calling for the current law, which protects unborn babies from 24 to 40 weeks, to be abolished. It says that "this piece of Victorian legislation" is in line with "the punitive values of mid-Victorian Britain."

"Fundamentally, it is unacceptable that women's bodies remain governed by Victorian legislation that fossilises values well out of step with those cherished in Britain today," the description on the website reads. "The criminalisation of abortion makes a mockery of the equal status that is accorded to women in any other area of life, represents discrimination against women, and stigmatises the one in three women who will have an abortion. This harms women."

According to Christian Concern, 200 midwives have already signed a letter titled "Not in Our Name" as of May 13, asking the Board to revoke the union's support as well as consult the members regarding their position on abortion.

The RCM website, meanwhile, reiterated in a post that "abortion should be removed from criminal law." Their position statement on abortion is available for perusal online.