Head of Midwives Group Promotes Unlimited Abortions: Abortion is Part of Our Calling

The job of a midwife is to care for women and their babies before, during and after birth, but the leader of British midwives group is pushing to add late-term abortion advocacy to midwives’ job descriptions.

Cathy Warwick, the chief executive of the Royal College of Midwives, has been facing heavy backlash ever since she used her role to push for late-term abortions for any reason up to birth, LifeNews reported.

Without consulting members, Warwick recently published a new RCM policy that supports abortion on demand, according to the UK Metro. She also got the midwives group involved in a campaign to push for the legalization of abortions for any reason up until birth, according to the report. The campaign is led by the pro-abortion British Pregnancy Advisory Service, and Warwick is the chairwoman of its board.

Currently in England, abortion is legal up until 24 weeks; late-term abortions are legal only in rare circumstances when the mother’s life is in danger or the unborn child has a severe disability. The measure being proposed by Warwick and the BPAS would make British law similar to the U.S. after Roe v. Wade, allowing abortions for any reason on viable, late-term babies.

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In a new interview with The Telegraph, Warwick said she believes midwives should support women’s decisions to have abortions for any reason, at any time. Clearly defiant, she told the news outlet that she does not regret making decisions without consulting the midwives who she represents, and she will not back down.

Here is more from the interview:

In remarks likely to infuriate opponents of any relaxation of the law, she described abortion as being “part” of the role of a midwife. They should, she said, “deal with the rough and the smooth” rather than simply the enjoying the “wonder and astonishment” of bringing healthy babies into the world.  The “rights and wrongs” of abortion should not be a consideration, she insisted.

The medical profession are, she admitted frankly, already interpreting current abortion law “almost as loosely as possible” to get around restrictions. Terminations should, she said, be viewed as part of the “family planning jigsaw”. …

The fundamental reason, she argues, why neither members nor the board were formally consulted was that the decriminalisation of abortion, fits neatly with its long-standing policy to support “choice” for women.

… For many, supporting “choice” might be one thing but is not sweeping away the current abortion law in its entirety a step further? “At the end of the day: no,” she replies. “What we’re saying is women should have control over their own fertility and over their own reproduction.

“We’re not saying we’re pro-abortion, we’re not saying we’re anti-abortion, we’re saying ‘let’s give this to women to decide and let’s put it in the general field of healthcare’. ”

A petition calling for Warwick to resign has nearly 39,000 signatures. Hundreds of midwives also have signed a public letter of protest, according to The Telegraph.

But when asked if there are any cases where she would consider abortion to be wrong, Warwick answered with a plain, “No.” Nor did it seem to bother Warwick that she is advocating for a very unpopular measure allowing abortions on viable, late-term babies for any reason. From her remarks, it appears that she believes only the woman’s rights matter during pregnancy.

Paul Tully, general secretary of the British pro-life group Society for Protection of the Unborn Child, previously expressed his outrage at Warwick’s radical position. He said the midwives group already is pro-abortion, and the latest news marks a radical shift that aligns with the pro-abortion lobby.

“Midwifery is a caring profession, and most women training to be midwives do so because they care about babies and want to serve mothers and babies,” Tully said. “Abortion is a total contradiction of that. Abortion kills babies and harms women, sometimes fatally.”

Most people strongly oppose mid- and late-term abortions. A 2016 Marist poll found 61 percent of Americans, including those who identify as “pro-choice,” support laws banning abortion after 20 weeks of pregnancy. An unofficial reader poll on the Metro showed 79 percent saying England should keep its current abortion limits and 21 percent saying the abortion time limit should be scrapped.

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