A CALL made by a Glasgow midwife for colleagues to "forcefully refuse" the Royal College of Midwives decision to back a campaign to take abortion out of criminal law is helping feed a growing culture of stigma that could stop some women from seeking medical help, according to pro-choice campaigners.

Abortion Rights, which defends women’s access to abortion, said that comments from Mary Doogan – the Glasgow midwife who took a case to the Supreme court over whether she could make a ''conscientious objection'' to supporting women who have gone abortion – sent a message to women that they did have rights over their own bodies.

Doogan criticised the Royal College of Midwives (RCM) after its chief executive Professor Cathy Warwick backed a campaign by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and We Trust Women calling for abortion to be removed from criminal law.

In February, Warwick said the BPAS campaign had the union's full support as she called for the legal limit on abortion to be ''relegated to history'' and for women to be trusted to make the right choices.

Under current laws, a woman can face criminal proceedings it she ends her pregnancy without two doctors signatures and can be liable to life imprisonment if she terminates her pregnancy beyond 24 weeks without medical legal authorisation. No other health care procedure is subject to criminal proceedings.

As Warwick also chairs the BPAS board of trustees, Doogan – who lost her case in the Supreme Court – insisted there was a "conflict of interest" at the heart of the "gruesome decision".

Doogan said: "The professional trade union body, which has the role of representing the vast majority of midwives, has taken the remarkable step of endorsing a campaign which is radically at odds with a positive regard for the babies that midwives work so hard to bring safely into the world.

"I entered the profession to bring life into the world not to end life. An unbelievable decision taken in the name of the majority of midwives.

"I would hope that the horror of this position and what is now being demanded of all midwives would penetrate minds and hearts and make them stand up and forcefully refuse to take part in this and oppose this policy decision."

However Jillian Merchant, a member of Abortion Rights executive committee, said the comments were unhelpful and did not support the majority view.

"It sends out a pretty clear message that women still do not have rights over their own bodies," she added. "Comments like this can create stigma and it can make women think carefully about exploring their options. Women seeing that might be faced with a whole range of thoughts such as unnecessary guilt. It has the potential to make women question their own decision."

She also raised concerns about how the devolution of abortion law in Scotland had been exploited by pro-lifers as a way of campaigning against current abortion laws. During Lent earlier this year the Forty Days For Life campaign held a 40 day pro-life prayer vigil outside Glasgow’s Queen Elizabeth University Hospital.

Clare Murphy of BPAS stressed that it had been clear that midwives would be allowed to consciously object to carrying out abortions. "We want abortion to be regulated like every other health procedure," she said.

"Someone like Mary Doogan is absolutely entitled to her opinions but she ought to remember that there are midwives who support women's choices and feel they have a duty to care for them. They also need to have their professional choices respected."