The CEO of the Royal College of Midwives, Professor Cathy Warwick, defended her actions after unilaterally signing them up to a campaign for complete legalisation of abortion up to the time of birth.
35,000 people signed a petition demanding a rethink and hundreds of midwives signed a public letter of protest concerning her move. One midwife commented: ‘I chose to pursue a career in midwifery because I wanted to help women and babies throughout one of the most vulnerable times of both their lives... Yet the campaign that the RCM has signed up to is antithetical to this wonderful calling.
Professor Warwick insisted there would be no going back on the policy and suggested that only a small minority of midwives opposed her. She went on to claim that abortion was ‘part’ of the role of a midwife – as part of family planning – and saw no circumstances under which abortion is wrong.