The Royal College of Midwives is calling on the Government to recruit more midwives for the NHS, as there are not enough. That is its proper job. The RCM is also demanding a change in the law to decriminalise abortion right up to the moment of birth. That is definitely not its proper job, as many of its members have complained. Not only are they appalled by the prospect of abortion on demand without limits, but by the fact they have not been consulted about it. The college’s governing body has pushed to its logical conclusion the primacy of “choice” – that the only person with any stake in the matter is the pregnant woman. In other words, the unborn child she is carrying is not a person with any rights or interests worth protecting.

Clearly, control of the college’s policy on abortion has been captured by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), which arranges more than 65,000 abortions a year. Professor Cathy Warwick, chief executive of the RCM, is also chairman of the board of trustees of BPAS. The pro-abortion policies of the two bodies are now identical. The RCM has explained that it believes “this is not about being for or against abortion; it is about being for women and respecting their choices about their bodies.”