Doctors for Choice UK are a group of healthcare professionals and students who campaign for abortion rights.
We focus on campaigning for the extension of abortion rights within the current legal framework, whilst also making the case for the full decriminalisation of abortion across the UK. Our work on education involves delivering workshops to secondary school students on abortion and contraception, and supporting our members to improve abortion education for medical, nursing and midwifery students, including developing open source teaching materials. By improving undergraduate education and campaigning for improved training for all healthcare practitioners, we aim to challenge abortion stigma and inspire conscientious commitment to abortion care.
Doctors for Choice UK recognises the limits of the dominant ‘choice’ conceptual framework, and how it does not sufficiently attend to the full range of reproductive rights and the ways in which these may be curtailed. The insights of the reproductive justice movement, particularly how structural factors influence the reproductive lives of women and pregnant people, inform our campaigns to destigmatise and normalise abortion. Our work increasingly focuses on abortion inequities in formal healthcare systems and challenging assumptions about who and where is best to provide care.
What we do
Decriminalisation
Raise awareness of the problems with current UK abortion law.
Campaign for the full decriminalisation of abortion across the UK.
Destigmatisation
Work towards the destigmatisation and normalisation of abortion for those accessing and those providing abortion care.
Education
Support evidence-based workshops on pregnancy-decision making and abortion in secondary schools.
Advocate for comprehensive abortion care teaching as part of the core curriculum in all UK medical, nursing and midwifery schools.
Promote the idea of ‘conscientious commitment’ to abortion care and inspire future abortion providers.
Doctor's for Choice UK was formerly ‘Doctors for a Woman’s Choice on Abortion'.’
Doctors for a Woman’s Choice on Abortion was set up in 1976 with the following aims:
to make it clear to the public and to MPs that a large number of doctors would favour a change in the law to give women the right to make the abortion decision
to press for such a change in the law
to answer at a medical level the arguments of anti-abortionists
Within the limits of the existing law, DWCA campaigned for:
improved facilities for abortion, including day-care early medical abortion and the introduction of home medical abortion
all areas to meet the of the standards in the RCOG guidelines, “The Care of Women Requesting Induced Abortion“, which include waiting times and provision for counselling
DWCA changed its name to Doctors for Choice UK on 27 April 2018, the 50th anniversary of the implementation of the 1967 Abortion Act.
Our history
Our Team
Wendy Savage
President
Wendy is a Retired Senior Lecturer and Honorary Consultant at The Royal London Hospital, and Honorary Professor at Middlesex University's Department of Health and Education.
She was Press Officer and Co-ordinator of Doctors for a Woman’s Choice on Abortion (DWCA) from 1977-2017, before being Co-chair of Doctors for Choice UK (DfC) and is now our President, as well as President of Keep Our NHS Public, BMA Council member and Public Governor, Camden and Islington NHS Foundation Trust.
Jayne Kavanagh
Co-chair
Jayne Kavanagh is an Associate Clinical Professor (Teaching) at UCL Medical School and a sexual and reproductive health specialty doctor in London. She is co-chair of Doctors for Choice UK and co-director of the charity Abortion Talk. She was clinical education lead of the RCOG's Making Abortion Safe programme, where she led the development of an open access eLearning package on abortion care and the RCOG's best practice papers on 'Abortion Care', 'Post-Abortion Care 'and Post-Abortion Contraception'.
Jayne is passionate about improving sexual and reproductive health education for healthcare providers and students and about destigmatising abortion.
Hayley Webb
Co-chair
Hayley is a GP with a special interest in women’s health. As well as working as a GP, she works in an NHS Community Gyanecology service in London, providing contraception and abortion care. She is also a forensic medical examiner, working with victims of rape and sexual assault.
Hayley joined Doctors for Choice UK in 2014 due to her strong feminist values and passionate belief in protecting and advancing women's reproductive rights.
Polly Cohen
Content Creation
Pollyanna is an Academic Foundation Doctor with research in Women’s Health. She is currently lead on content creation for Doctors for Choice UK.
For the last 5 years, she has directed plays, edited documentaries, created music videos and dressed as a vulva all in the name of promoting women’s reproductive rights.
When not dressed as a vulva, Pollyanna manages DfC UK’s finances, runs training sessions for Education for Choice and speaks at conferences about improving medical school abortion curricula and using the arts to destigmatise abortion. She really wants DfC UK merchandise to include branded umbrellas.
Victoria Kinkaid
Campaigns Coordinator
Victoria is a junior doctor who is currently studying for a diploma in sexual and reproductive health. She hopes to pursue a career in Obstetrics and Gynaecology and is passionate about the provision of women’s healthcare.
Victoria was brought up in Northern Ireland and was aware of the of lack of abortion care from a young age. This has spurred her on to ensure that women have access to these essential services. Victoria continues to advocate for provision and access to abortion care and all other aspects of women’s health. She has also recently set up her own podcast to provide education on women’s health issues.
Corrina Horan
Education Lead
Corrina is a registrar working in Community Sexual and Reproductive Health working in East London.
She first became conscientiously committed to abortion care whilst studying clinical medicine at UCL, and has been an active member of Doctors for Choice UK since this point. She has previously studied an MSc in Reproductive and Sexual Health Research at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine, which further motivated her to be involved in abortion provision and activism.
She has a particular interest in the way in which abortion is taught, both at undergraduate level and as part of PSHE in schools and sixth form colleges, and is the Education lead.
Alice Howe
Treasurer
Alice is a GP and an academic clinical fellow in community sexual and reproductive health. She has been a member of DfC since 2016. She studied Reproductive Science and Women’s Health for her MSc at UCL.
She has previously held the roles of workforce representative and regional lead for Wales. She is now the treasurer of doctors for choice.
Sean Rees
Policy and Law Lead
Sean is an obstetrics and gynaecology trainee based in Glasgow, and our policy and law lead.
Tom Merewether
Events and Engagement
Tom is a doctor working in Homerton sexual health service in London, including the abortion service there. He's also studying for a master's degree in Philosophy at the University of Kingston.
Tracey Masters
Provider Representative
Dr Tracey Masters works as a Consultant in Sexual and Reproductive Health Care at an NHS hospital in East London (Homerton University Hospital). She is proud to lead its abortion service, and to be part of the Women’s Health and Sexual Health teams there which serve the diverse population of Hackney.
Tracey is a Fellow of the Royal College of Obstetricians & Gynaecologists and of the Faculty of Sexual & Reproductive Health.
She is a founding member of the British Society of Abortion Care Providers (BSACP) and the current Membership Secretary.
Esther Davis
Nurse Representative
Esther is a clinical nurse specialist working in sexual and reproductive healthcare in East London for the past 7 years, with previous experience working in abortion services. She has a particular passion for bringing sexual health and contraception services to harder to reach groups and has been the outreach link nurse for the Open Doors Project for street based sex workers for the past 6 years. Esther is looking forward to engaging other nurses and clinicians with Doctors for Choice UK, fighting to end abortion stigma and campaigning to improve access to safe abortions for all.
Penny Williams
Evernts and Engagement
Penny is a foundation doctor currently working in London. She has always had a passion for reproductive rights and first became interested in abortion provision while studying for a masters in sexual and reproductive health. She hopes to specialise in sexual health in the future.
Beth Gillies
Membership Secretary
Beth is a junior doctor currently working in Birmingham. Her enthusiasm for reproductive rights began at UCL, where she completed her BSc in Women's Health. She has since worked in sexual health clinics and with femtech start-ups to promote engagement in reproductive healthcare, and recently gained a Diploma in Sexual and Reproductive Health. Beth hopes the future features the decriminalisation of abortion and some vulva-print DfC merch.
Georgina Blake
Communications Officer
Georgie is a Clinical Fellow in Sexual Health and HIV in London. She provides contraceptive and STI-related care including fitting implants and IUDs and has completed a Diploma in Sexual and Reproductive Health. She aspires to continue a career in sexual health to work towards de-stigmatising and improving safe access to abortion care and empower people to make informed choices about their reproductive health.
Shannon Baker
Events and Engagement
Shannon is a junior doctor, currently working at Queen's Hospital in Romford. She aspires to one day specialise in obstetrics and gynaecology. Her role in events for DfC started due to her feminist ideals and belief in the rights of women to make autonomous decisions regarding their own body and health.
Claire Holdreith
Communications Officer
Claire is a foundation doctor working in London. She has completed a masters in sexual and reproductive health research. She is from the US, and her support for the right to an abortion has been a driving factor in her life. She hopes to work in Obstetrics and Gynaecology.