Aargh - the Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child are distributing leaflets to GPs

[LadyBiscuit]

This has made me so cross. There was just a piece on PM on Radio 4 about this but can't find anything online. Apparently there are thousands of GPs who have accepted SPUC's leaflet as a way of informing women who are considering abortion about the facts. There was a GP on who was saying that they needed their leaflets because information elsewhere did not provide a true picture.

The SPUC is a lobbying group trying to prevent abortion altogether (let's remember they tried to get the Morning After pill banned a few years ago) and are completely bloody inappropriate as a source of information at a GP's surgery which are supposed to be impartial.

I'm quite tempted to write to the GMC

[SardineQueen]

Really? I'm astonished. Mind you there are a lot of GPs who won't prescribe contraception etc on religious grounds so maybe it's one particular group?

Counterbalance is something i read in the paper about how there is shock horror that new guidance has come out that patients should be advised that abortion less dangerous than pregnancy + birth. Will try and find a link think it was in FILs torygraph.

[SardineQueen]

here

[SardineQueen]

I imagine the GPs do proles as they're all self employed. I don't think there is anyone you can write to. It is legal for doctors to refuse things that go against their beliefs, I'm not sure it's any different with leaflets.

I am going to try and find one see what it actually looks like.

[LadyBiscuit]

I haven't managed to find it SQ but haven't looked that hard. If a GP has a moral issue with abortion then he should tell his patient rather than giving her a blatant piece of propaganda though surely?

[SardineQueen]

I couldn't find it.

I don't know if GPs have to stick to the party line on stuff. I think as long as they are not giving misinformation they can probably do as they choose? TBH having a GP sit and say to me in a smugly judgemental tone "I do not agree with contraception because of my religious beliefs and so will have to ask one of my colleagues to sign this prescription" wasn't exactly a neutral experience

[Youremindmeofthebabe]

I can't find that actual one, but there's loads of others on their website.

here

[LadyBiscuit]

It's the pretending to be impartial bit that really gets on my tits. And this GP was saying that the info provided from the RCOG didn't mention the fact that if you have an abortion, you're more likely to get breast cancer which he thinks is very important

Here's the link to the programme. It was about 5.40pm I think.

[LadyBiscuit]

According to wiki:

The abortion-breast cancer hypothesis has been the subject of extensive scientific inquiry, and the scientific community has concluded that abortion does not cause breast cancer. This consensus is supported by major medical bodies, including the World Health Organization, the U.S. National Cancer Institute, the American Cancer Society, the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

So a load of bollocks. And if there is a link then presumably women who miscarry in the 1st trimester are equally at risk. So I should be dead by now on that basis

[SardineQueen]

What a load of shit those documents are (read two of them).

Are you more likely to get breast cancer if you have an abortion? I never knew that. I knew that breast cancer was reduced by breastfeeding...

[SardineQueen]

x-posts

[SardineQueen]

Why would abortion cause breast cancer? What is teh mechanism supposed to be?

How bizarre.

[ForkfulOfTabouleh]

This is fucking outrageous.

Shall we all email are own GP surgeries to ask them if they have these and suggest that it would be a very bad idea if they do get them.

I wonder if the SPUC has done this a bit "by stealth".

There is a wider issue here about groups/companies providing info/advertorials to GPs/community groups/schools etc.

If there is anyway of getting this issue a wider audience in the mainstream media then GPs will be alerted and more likely to ditch the leaflets?

I'm going to report this post to MNHQ to bring it to their attention to see if they are interested in alerting any print journos.

[LadyBiscuit]

Good idea forkful. It may get picked up tomorrow but wouldn't hurt to alert. It is simply not on for GPs to distribute propaganda under the guise of 'facts'

[freewoman]

I know I have written to the GMC already and have just been fighting this on a Telegraph forum. The idea that abortion or miscarriage results in breast cancer is evil misinformation.

[freewoman]

It is supposed to be about hormones but makes no sense at all. what they base it on was an "association" in outdated studies. Women who are poor at caring for their health, poor diet etc will be less likely to breast feed which is protective. They are likely to be over represented in the group of women who seek/need terminations. That "association" is what SPUC used and has been clearly refuted by up to date recent studies and all cancer experts.

[freewoman]

OOH that is brave. Do I have the guts? I'd rather it came from the GMC.

[freewoman]

Christ and you had to stay with that practice? No advice about any fertility matter by that doc would be reliable.

[weegiemum]

My dh is a GP he put these leaflets straight in the bin and asked never to be contacted by them again.

He doesn't refer for abortion - as he is legally entitled under the abortion act. But he doesn't and would never use emotive and propagandist material in this situation. A simple, polite explanation is all that is required.

[expatinscotland]

Do they have to accept these leaflets?

[weegiemum]

They come in the post afaik expat. Well in our area they do anyway, can't see anyone schlepping so far!

So the doctors see them and can bin.

If a GP accepts the non-clinical appointment that a personal visit would accept without checking who it is, more fool them. Tbh most don't have time.

I suspect that most of the "thousands" who have accepted them are evangelical christians (over-represented in medecine, esp GP) who were looking for a resource like this anyway.

When I first got pg with dd1, my GP had a huge poster of the "stages of pregnancy" on her wall with photos etc. I now realise it was to put people off having an abortion (she told me so).

Shouldn't be allowed. I might ask dh how it could be stopped.

[expatinscotland]

Ah, I see!

[freewoman]

It takes a bit of faffing around but one can email the GMC.

[MmeLindt]

That is appalling.

Weegie
Were the leaflets immediately obvious as coming from the SPUC? Could some GPs have put them in their surgeries without really noticing that they were very onesided?

[expatinscotland]

Well, in our surgery I can't say I've ever seen such leaflets or posters. No hassle about birth control, either, including referring DH for the snip .