Call on MPs to ease 'unethical' abortion rule

ABORTION law should be modified to remove "qualifying conditions" required for the procedure, academics said today.

Those seeking an abortion currently have to obtain permission from two doctors under a 40-year-old law.

The call for a modernisation of the law came in a letter from leading academics to The Times. They included Jonathan Glover, professor of ethics at King's College, and John Harris, Lord Alliance professor of bioethics at the University of Manchester.

"We believe that the current restrictions on women's reproductive autonomy during the first 24 weeks of pregnancy are not justified," they said. The group of 85 lawyers and ethicists says the law flouts legal principles that underpin modern medical practice, under which individuals are entitled to make their own healthcare decisions.

MPs will vote on amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill on 29 October. The Bill could change where abortions are performed and by whom. Issues include reducing to one the number of doctors required to give permission, and broadening the range of premises and staff to perform early abortions.

Never have so many lawyers and academics settled on a single view or called on MPs to act. They are also calling for trained nurses to be allowed to carry out the procedure.