Rising numbers of doctors are refusing to carry out abortions
The NHS abortion service is heading for a crisis because increasing numbers of doctors refuse to carry out terminations, it was claimed.
There has been a big rise in young medics with 'conscientious objections' to abortion.
The increase has been revealed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
It says there is evidence of a 'slow but growing problem' of young doctors opting out of abortion training on moral grounds.
Some senior doctors have blamed declining interest on the lack of 'glamour' involved in the work.
This has been dubbed 'dinner party syndrome' where doctors don't want to admit to their friends that they do abortions.
In addition, changes to training schedules and reductions in working hours mean trainee doctors are opting out of a branch of specialist work that may not enhance their career prospects.
RCOG spokesman Kate Guthrie, who is head of abortion services in Hull, said: "You get no thanks for performing abortions, you get spat on. Who admits to friends at a dinner party that they are an abortionist? It is not a sexy area - it is a bog standard area of women's care.
"There is an increasing number of young doctors who are not participating in the training. The college and the Department of Health are really worried."
She said abortion care must become part of core training in a new curriculum being introduced in August, although it should not be compulsory.
The college was not able to produce any figures to back up its claims, however.
But the situation has prompted abortion groups to call for a change in the law which would allow nurses to carry out early surgical and medical abortions - procedures which are technically simple.
A spokesman for Marie Stopes, Britain's biggest private provider of abortions, said this would dramatically increase provision.
Spokesman Tony Kerridge said: "Ninety per cent of terminations take place before 12 weeks when they are simple, low-tech procedures.
"It's not glamorous work for doctors which may partly explain the increasing difficulty in recruitment over the last five or six years, and younger people no longer understand or recall the time when abortion was illegal.
"Our research published in The Lancet shows nurses and paramedics in Vietnam and South Africa do the work extremely successfully, but they are not allowed to here. This must change."
Marie Stopes currently carries out one in three British abortions, with two-thirds funded by NHS contracts. Mr Kerridge said surveys show one in five GPs oppose abortiontion but most do not let it stand in the way of caring for their patients.
Julia Millington of the ProLife Alliance, agreed that doctors are turning away from the work on moral grounds.
She said: "We have been hearing for some time now that young doctors, in particular, do not want to work in this field. Those choosing to go into medicine presumably do so because they want to cure sickness and disease not end the lives of innocent human beings.
"Public and Parliamentary opinion on the abortion issue has shifted in recent years and this is further evidence that the law must be reviewed."
But the British Pregnancy Advisory Service said it was not aware of any documented rise in conscientious objections where a doctor refuses to work in abortion or IVF services on the grounds of moral conviction.
Chief executive Ann Furedi said "The current crop of medical students have not themselves seen women dying slowly and painfully after self -induced and unsafe aborneurosurgeryin the UK- but if they went to the many countries overseas where abortion is still illegal or only available to rich people, they would see this.
"Abortion is an absolutely essential, life-saving part of medical care - it may not be the most glamorous medical speciality on the face of it, compared to stem cell research or - but it is seen as heroic work by the women that it helps."
Dr Kate Paterson, a consultant obstetrician working in abortion care, said: "There are an awful lot of doctors already working helping women to get pregnant in the NHS and in the private IVF sector.
"There are a hell of a lot less who want to help women when they are pregnant and can't cope.
"There is a desperate need for this kind of work and women can be in really extreme situations."
A Department of Health spokesman said "We are aware that a minority of doctors choose to opt out from performing abortions, as they are legally entitled to do.
"However, this is not preventing women from accessing abortion services. The statistics show that the number of abortions being performed remains stable year on year and that more abortions are being performed earlier."
She said the Department of Health would be discussing the issue of training with the college.
The NHS abortion service is heading for a crisis because increasing numbers of doctors refuse to carry out terminations, it was claimed.
There has been a big rise in young medics with 'conscientious objections' to abortion.
The increase has been revealed by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
It says there is evidence of a 'slow but growing problem' of young doctors opting out of abortion training on moral grounds.
Some senior doctors have blamed declining interest on the lack of 'glamour' involved in the work.
This has been dubbed 'dinner party syndrome' where doctors don't want to admit to their friends that they do abortions.
In addition, changes to training schedules and reductions in working hours mean trainee doctors are opting out of a branch of specialist work that may not enhance their career prospects.
RCOG spokesman Kate Guthrie, who is head of abortion services in Hull, said: "You get no thanks for performing abortions, you get spat on. Who admits to friends at a dinner party that they are an abortionist? It is not a sexy area - it is a bog standard area of women's care.
"There is an increasing number of young doctors who are not participating in the training. The college and the Department of Health are really worried."
She said abortion care must become part of core training in a new curriculum being introduced in August, although it should not be compulsory.
The college was not able to produce any figures to back up its claims, however.
But the situation has prompted abortion groups to call for a change in the law which would allow nurses to carry out early surgical and medical abortions - procedures which are technically simple.
A spokesman for Marie Stopes, Britain's biggest private provider of abortions, said this would dramatically increase provision.
Spokesman Tony Kerridge said: "Ninety per cent of terminations take place before 12 weeks when they are simple, low-tech procedures.
"It's not glamorous work for doctors which may partly explain the increasing difficulty in recruitment over the last five or six years, and younger people no longer understand or recall the time when abortion was illegal.
"Our research published in The Lancet shows nurses and paramedics in Vietnam and South Africa do the work extremely successfully, but they are not allowed to here. This must change."
Marie Stopes currently carries out one in three British abortions, with two-thirds funded by NHS contracts. Mr Kerridge said surveys show one in five GPs oppose abortiontion but most do not let it stand in the way of caring for their patients.
Julia Millington of the ProLife Alliance, agreed that doctors are turning away from the work on moral grounds.
She said: "We have been hearing for some time now that young doctors, in particular, do not want to work in this field. Those choosing to go into medicine presumably do so because they want to cure sickness and disease not end the lives of innocent human beings.
"Public and Parliamentary opinion on the abortion issue has shifted in recent years and this is further evidence that the law must be reviewed."
But the British Pregnancy Advisory Service said it was not aware of any documented rise in conscientious objections where a doctor refuses to work in abortion or IVF services on the grounds of moral conviction.
Chief executive Ann Furedi said "The current crop of medical students have not themselves seen women dying slowly and painfully after self -induced and unsafe aborneurosurgeryin the UK- but if they went to the many countries overseas where abortion is still illegal or only available to rich people, they would see this.
"Abortion is an absolutely essential, life-saving part of medical care - it may not be the most glamorous medical speciality on the face of it, compared to stem cell research or - but it is seen as heroic work by the women that it helps."
Dr Kate Paterson, a consultant obstetrician working in abortion care, said: "There are an awful lot of doctors already working helping women to get pregnant in the NHS and in the private IVF sector.
"There are a hell of a lot less who want to help women when they are pregnant and can't cope.
"There is a desperate need for this kind of work and women can be in really extreme situations."
A Department of Health spokesman said "We are aware that a minority of doctors choose to opt out from performing abortions, as they are legally entitled to do.
"However, this is not preventing women from accessing abortion services. The statistics show that the number of abortions being performed remains stable year on year and that more abortions are being performed earlier."
She said the Department of Health would be discussing the issue of training with the college.
