Christians are making a united front in calling for the British Medical Association to give a greater consideration to the medical and psychological impact abortions can have on women, following the BMA's recent vote to loosen abortion rules.

The British Medical Association voted on 27 June for early abortions to be made available without the need for the agreement of two doctors. The motion, relating to the first 13 weeks of pregnancy, was approved by a majority of selected delegates.

Julia Millington of the Pro-life Alliance, said: "We would like to see the medical profession giving greater consideration, not to the politics of abortion, but to the medical and psychological impact on women.

"We should be asking why so many women are having abortions and offering real alternatives to women in crisis pregnancy situations so that no woman feels that abortion is her only choice."

Dr Don Horrocks, Head of Public Affairs at the Evangelical Alliance, said: "If the BMA motions were to become law it would make abortion much more easy to obtain - virtually on demand. Surely society needs abortion to be less not more frequent. But at least we can be grateful, that the BMA sensibly have rejected even further moves towards liberalisation of the 1967 Abortion Act."

The two additional motions rejected by the BMA proposed that abortions be carried out by nurses and midwives, and that GP surgeries be made available for abortions.

Dr Andrew Fergusson, Head of Communications at Christian Medical Fellowship, added: "The BMA has unwisely smuggled through an ethical and legal matter camouflaged as a medical one. This is asking for abortion on demand in the first 3 months of pregnancy and that is a matter for Parliament ultimately to decide. We welcome the debate the BMA has now started!"

Nola Leach, Chief Executive Officer at CARE, welcomed the no-vote on the two additional motions by the BMA but said he was "very concerned that they voted against the two doctors requirement".

"Research demonstrating a clear relationship between abortion and psychological trauma and pre-term birth mean that rather than deregulating in the interest of speedy decisions that save money we should actually be introducing new regulations to ensure that women are made aware of all the risks and given time to make a considered unhurried decision," he said.

A petition set up by concerned members of the BMA can be seen at: www.bmapetition.org.uk