British Section of the World Federation of Doctors Who Respect Human Life

Daily Mail (London)
April 17, 2007 Tuesday

INCREASING numbers of doctors are refusing to carry out abortions, forcing the NHS to pay private hospitals for the procedures. Here, Dr Robert Hardie, a former GP, explains why he resigned rather than refer women for terminations.

NO GP should go against their conscience. So says the General Medical Council. If only the Department of Health understood this ethical stance, the droves of young doctors now refusing to perform abortions would not have to worry about losing their jobs for sticking to their principles.

That is effectively what happened to me, when I refused to sign the new General Practitioner's contract in 2004. It basically forced me to offer what is called a 'full family planning service' to any patient who asked for it.

In practice, this meant I would be expected to refer women for a termination.

In my 25 years as a GP, first in Swanage, Dorset, and then in Melksham, Wiltshire, I have always tried to be guided by my conscience, which tells me that the taking of life, however small, is simply wrong.

This was against everything I - as a human being and as a doctor - believe in. My freedom to follow my conscience was at stake, so I quit. It was my only option, I had no choice. Principally, it is because I am a Catholic and believe in the sanctity of human life. This is not dogmatic belief. I was not born a Catholic but converted to the Roman Catholic Church in 1976, after the birth of my son Tim.

My wife Clare was a Catholic, and I was a committed Anglican, so it seemed a natural step at the time. But even before I converted I'd always believed that you just don't kill people. It is a doctor's role to protect life - it's what we're trained to do, which is why so many of us dislike the ideas of Living Wills and Euthanasia.

Before becoming a GP, I'd worked as a general surgeon. That was easy. There were no great dilemmas - if a bit needed chopping off, off it went. But abortions are entirely different and as I scoured the writings of medical ethicists, they only convinced me further of the sanctity of life.

My other prime concern was, of course, the patient. The legacy of abortion can be powerful. We're only just beginning to learn through research that, as well as the physical problems such as infertility, those who have had terminations may even suffer long-term psychiatric problems.

In my career, I have seen many young women who have suffered as a result of a decision to have an abortion. Sadness is easy to disguise at first, but their true suffering, which can take years to emerge, may manifest itself as unsuspected physical illness.

Doctors have a duty to these women for all their lives, not just one moment in time. Yet now, if a woman asks for a termination, her doctor must accede to her request.

I was also deeply concerned about what the GP contract meant for practitioners' independence. In my first practice, which was a large one, I was able to hand over any patients with concerns about abortion, or contraception, for that matter, to my colleagues.

It was just a question of saying, sorry, wrong GP for that, and passing them on. I certainly didn't want to, and still don't, impose my beliefs on anyone else.

My partners didn't mind; with my surgical background, I trained as a general surgeon, I performed minor ops such as varicose veins and hernias for their patients. It was all pretty easy going.

But when I moved up to Melksham, Wiltshire, and started my own one-man practice, it became slightly more complicated. I made it plain to all my patients both in person and in the literature in my surgery that if that kind of treatment was what they wanted, they should seek help elsewhere.

UNFORTUNATELY, it became time for me to agree the new GP contract in 2004.

Not only would I have been financially penalised for not offering the complete family planning package, which includes providing referrals for termination. But had I signed up, I would also have had to offer the referrals I so object to.

Faced with this, I quit as a GP and returned to surgery, operating at a local hospital removing skin cancers from faces and hands.

The Department of Health has effectively taken away the right for GPs to make our own medical decisions. It's all about ticking boxes, rather than treating individual patients. Doctors are increasingly being bullied by the health authorities, and their ability to work in an ethical fashion is being undermined.

Our society becomes more antilife all the time. Terminations are on the rise, the abortion pill can be bought at the chemist, and euthanasia is creeping in through the back door, too.

If we GPs are not to be allowed to follow our consciences and protect life, who will?

Interview: VICTORIA LAMBERT