After the Royal College of Nurses and the British Medical Association, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists has now also come out and said the requirement for two doctors to approve an abortion in the first three months of pregnancy is “anachronistic”.

As the link above outlines, this is an issue that is going to get a lot of airing over the next few months, and it would be good to be promulgating the facts, and the medical opinion as widely as possible. Some will see the debate as a threat, but it is also a great opportunity to get an abortion law fit for the 21st century. (And one that fits public opinion – large numbers of people believe that we already have abortion on demand, and are shocked to learn just how restrictive the law is.)

And more on the facts: a study to be published in The Lancet finds that abortion rates are similar no matter what the law – the only difference is that where it is legal it is generally safe, where illegal, generally unsafe. So restrictive laws don’t stop abortions; all they do is kill and maim women. Of course we knew that before, but it is something that deserves to be repeated again and again.

What it further shows is that – surprise, surprise – when you provide contraception, abortion rates go down. (The world’s abortion rates are now going down because of better provision of contraceptives in eastern Europe.)

So why are all of the anti-abortion people not standing on street corners handing out condoms? And funding contraceptive clinics all over the third world?

Update added 14/10: The Royal College of Nurses has made a submission to MPs saying that they should be allowed to perform abortions – an excellent idea that should have a significant impact on waiting lists – five weeks! and more in some parts of the country.