British Fertility Patients to Be Treated With Women Having Abortions 
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by Steven Ertelt
LifeNews.com Editor
August 15, 2006
London, England (LifeNews.com) — In an ironic move that is upsetting pro-life advocates, a British hospital plans to make women undergoing fertility treatments share the same wing of the hospital as women there to have abortions. Detractors say it puts women who are desperate to have children in the same waiting area as those who are taking the life of their unborn children.
The Bradford Royal Infirmary is the medical center planning the move, which would also see women who are being treated for miscarriages placed in the same hospital ward as well.
Bradford wants to merge two existing hospital units into one, which it says will offer more flexibility for patients and streamline its services.
However, the Royal College Of Gynaecology says the move would be a breach of their guidelines, which say "women admitted for abortion should be cared for separately from other gynecological patients."
Union groups and pro-life organizations are also blasting the proposal, saying its not meant to help patients but meant to reduce costs.
"Interaction among patients and their relatives is inevitable," an unnamed union spokesperson told the London Daily Mail newspaper. "It is neither right nor ethical for a patient who is undergoing fertility treatment to be in the same ward as a woman having an abortion or who has suffered a miscarriage."
Nuala Scarisbrick, a trustee of the pro-life charity LIFE, told the newspaper, "Years ago it was common practice for women giving birth to be alongside women who had abortions, but that was changed. The fact that a hospital is reintroducing it is very sad."
But Bradford defends the decision and a spokesperson said the decision would be better for patients.
"Under the old, two-ward system, we had 16 beds for day patients and 15 beds for longer stay. Now, although we have fewer beds, we have greater flexibility about how we use them," the representative told the Daily Mail.
