British doctor under investigation for helping patients not to have abortions

London, England, Nov 16, 2007 / 10:03 am

LifeSiteNews.com is reporting that a well-known British doctor could be forced out of a job for helping women decide against having an abortion. Dr. Tammie Downes is under investigation for professional misconduct after she said in an interview with the Daily Mail that she had been instrumental in helping many women patients decide to continue to carry their children to term.

In the Daily Mail interview, Dr. Downes said she asked women in crisis pregnancies, “What would have to change to make you see things differently? What would help you to see this baby as good news and not bad news?”

Dr. Downes is under investigation by the General Medical Council and may lose the right to practice medicine.

The Guardian reports that Liberal Democrat MP, Dr. Evan Harris, Parliament’s most vigorous abortion-crusader, denounced Dr. Downes to Health Minister Dawn Primarolo and asked for an investigation.

Downes responded that she had let her personal feelings about abortion influence her relationship with patients. She told The Observer, “I don't try to persuade anybody. I give them the facts and allow them space to think through the decision that they are making. It has to be the mother's choice. I have no right to make that choice for them.”  “But I do think it's my duty as a doctor to help a woman make that choice,” she added. She said that about one third of women change their minds about abortion after seeing her.