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Original poster

Muslims and Abortion

25 replies

welshboris · 16/01/2006 21:24

A colleague (I wont use the word friend) came into the office today crying. She had been to the doctors to get her forms signed for her abortion she is meant to be having on Wednesday. But her usual doctor wasnt there, and the locum was Muslim and wouldnt sign the forms. So she will have to wait another week

Is she lying? She is the biggest attention seeker in the whole wide world, but I think this one rings true.

P.S Please dont turn this into a pro/anti Muslim/abortion thread I just want to know the facts

OP posts:
Sallystrawberry · 16/01/2006 21:25

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

anchovies · 16/01/2006 21:25

Any doctor can refuse to sign the forms on personal grounds so it's quite possible.

starlover · 16/01/2006 21:26

well i think a doctor can refuse to sign it. they don't have to do it by law... so i think religion may not be the issue here!

Rhubarb · 16/01/2006 21:26

Probably is true. How sad that she feels she has to tell you all what should be intimate and private information! If she is the biggest attention-seeker then perhaps she's not really pregnant????

mummytosteven · 16/01/2006 21:27

Wouldn't the doctors both have to have signed before the operation was listed for a certain date? I have never been in this position so have no personal knowledge of how termination appointments are arranged.

Original poster
welshboris · 16/01/2006 21:30

She says you have to have one form signed at the docs and one at the clinic by the doctor there.

And yes it is sad, but I think she really is pregnant, shes really pale and being sick a lot.

OP posts:
spacecadet · 16/01/2006 21:31

if she had already been referred to hospital by her gp then her gp would have signed the form already, the other signiture required is from the actual doctor in the hospital who agrees to perform the termination, again if she was already scheduled in for a termination on weds, the form should have already been signed by both doctors.

starlover · 16/01/2006 21:33

depends where it is done i think. i had a termination and went to the doctor who then referred me onto the bpas. they booked me in and i had to go back to my gp and get a note from her to take with me!

morningpaper · 16/01/2006 21:34

Before 24 week, two doctors have to sign that they agree that the risk to a woman?s physical or mental health or the risk to her child(ren)?s physical or mental health will be greater if she continues with the pregnancy than if she ends it. So it's quite reasonable for a Doctor not to want to sign forms for personal reasons - it's more than just a professional case of ticking boxes for many people.

spacecadet · 16/01/2006 21:37

i can only go on what i know happens within the nhs, as i remember from the bank shifts i did on the gynae ward.

stitch · 16/01/2006 21:39

sounds like an attention seeker to me.
abortion is a very very personal thing. if you are not her close friend, why is she telling you?

Rhubarb · 16/01/2006 21:52

Very sad!

Original poster
welshboris · 16/01/2006 22:04

Because Stich I was there.
And I personally dont think Im doing anything wrong by asking you lot whether she is telling the truth or not, Im not naming names and I work in a big company

OP posts:
nooka · 16/01/2006 22:06

Well I would agree, but sometimes it is possible to end up telling very unlikely things to suprising people, and if she was feeling vulnerable (which she would have if the situation is as described) you might have been the first person available to unload to. I certainly have been in a similar situation myself (not with the abortion, just the need to tell someone about a highly personal and emotional thing). Maybe she doesn't have a very good personal support network. Or maybe she doesn't see it as that personal.

Bugsy2 · 16/01/2006 22:09

If the locum didn't want to sign the form, she could have asked to be seen by one of the other practice doctors - there & then. In fact the locum should have asked her to wait & be seen. She doesn't HAVE to wait another week either, she could go to a family planning clinic or be seen as an emergency appointment with her own GP practice. If you say it is an emergency, the GP has to see you.

Rhubarb · 16/01/2006 22:09

Don't think anyone's saying you're doing wrong are they? I just find abortion sad.

Original poster
welshboris · 16/01/2006 22:10

I think its more that she doesnt see it as personal. She has a big support network, lots of giggly friends who meet her for drinks after work who she could tell. And she probably has. But Im someone in work to tell

OP posts:
Piffle · 16/01/2006 22:15

Not sure but this is what happened when I had mine (after assault)

GP - was Muslim in our surgery very ethnic area, he referred me straight away to the hospital
2 days later I went for pre termination exam which takes 2 hours, they scan to date yo, talk you through it and do your medical history.
Only after all this do they sign the forms and book you in.
This procedure may differ, but in almost all cases getting a date is not the GP's job.
Perhaps if your friend is telling the truth, this might be a cut off date for her week wise?

meysey · 17/01/2006 13:29

I think she may well be telling the truth as doctors are allowed to follow their religious convictions. Many Muslim surgeons refuse to carry out terminations. On a lesser note, when I was younger I had a doctor refuse to prescribe me the morning after pill on their religious grounds (think they were Catholic). But she should find someone else.

edam · 17/01/2006 13:36

Doctors are sometimes very obstructive to women seeking abortions so it certainly could be the case (quite wrongly in my view, they should refer patients to other doctors who can provide the perfectly legal medical care they need). Agree with the poster who suggested you might just have been the first person she could offload on.

nutcracker · 17/01/2006 13:55

Sounds truthful to me. My g.p signed a form and then the doc at the clinic signed another one.

It is awful having to wait. Do you know hpw far alaong she is, as most won't do it until at least 8 weeks anyway.

slug · 17/01/2006 19:07

Yup, probably true. My doctor did that to me, along with a patronising and deeply offensive lecture. I changed doctors.

Original poster
welshboris · 17/01/2006 20:25

All sorted, the other doc signed it and she is going to the clinic tomorrow. I think it is her "cut off" week.
Just have to wait for the next crisis now

OP posts:
stitch · 19/01/2006 08:34

wb, im fairly sure i didnt say i though she was doing something wrong. just personal

lucy5 · 19/01/2006 08:45

My sil is a christian and works as a nurse in a christian gps surgery. They make it very clear that they will not sign for terminations.

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