SoMp-Oct2006
PDF Upload
Handbook of WMA Policies
World Medical Association ⏐ D-1970-01-2006
WMA DECLARATION
ON
THERAPEUTIC ABORTION
Adopted by the 24th
World Medical Assembly, Oslo, Norway, August 1970
and amended by the 35th
World Medical Assembly, Venice, Italy, October 1983
and the 57th
WMA General Assembly, Pilanesberg, South Africa, October 2006
1. The WMA requires the physician to maintain respect for human life.
2. Circumstances bringing the interests of a mother into conflict with the interests of her
unborn child create a dilemma and raise the question as to whether or not the preg-
nancy should be deliberately terminated.
3. Diversity of responses to such situations is due in part to the diversity of attitudes
towards the life of the unborn child. This is a matter of individual conviction and
con-science that must be respected.
4. It is not the role of the medical profession to determine the attitudes and rules of any
particular state or community in this matter, but it is our duty to attempt both to en-
sure the protection of our patients and to safeguard the rights of the physician within
society.
5. Therefore, where the law allows therapeutic abortion to be performed, the procedure
should be performed by a physician competent to do so in premises approved by the
appropriate authority.
6. If the physician’s convictions do not allow him or her to advise or perform an abor-
tion, he or she may withdraw while ensuring the continuity of medical care by a
quali-fied colleague.