British Doctors Group Wants Nurses to Distribute Dangerous Abortion Drug

LifeNews.com ^ | June 28, 2007 | Steven Ertelt

[monomaniac]

London, England (LifeNews.com) -- One day after they voted to promote changing England's abortion law to allow just one physician to sign off on an abortion, the British Medical Association has voted to promote allowing nurses to distribute the abortion drug. They want nurses to hand out RU 486 even though it has killed two women in England.

In addition to the British deaths, several women have died in the United States from the abortion drug and in Canada, Sweden and France as well.

More than 1200 women in the United States alone have reported medical problems following the use of the drug, with hundreds needed medical treatment and some requiring surgeries or blood transfusions.

But that didn't stop the BMA from voting to promote allowing nurses to give out the abortion drug to women who are less than nine weeks pregnant.

Tony Calland, chairman of the BMA's medical ethics committee, told British media that such a rule would help women avoid later abortions who have to wait too long to get the abortion pill.

"It is not unusual for women to be 14 or 15 weeks pregnant before they have a termination, even if they came to the doctor at six weeks," he said. "That means they have to have a surgical termination and the delay is adding risk."

But pro-life advocates criticized the idea.

Julia Millington, political director of the ProLife Alliance, said, "The proposal to allow nurses to carry out first trimester abortions is outrageous. Why should nurses be made to do the dirty work?"