The Independent/London
Nadine Dorries: amendment to law sought
Anti-abortion campaigners are pressing ahead with a controversial amendment to the health Bill designed to cut the number of pregnancies which are terminated each year in the UK.
Conservative MP Nadine Dorries, who is proposing the amendment, said she would not be “bought off” by the promise of a government consultation on whether or not to offer independent counselling to all women considering an abortion.
Instead she said she wanted to change the law to strip abortion charities and doctors of their exclusive responsibility for counselling women seeking to terminate a pregnancy, and hand it to specially trained professionals.
But while she ruled out allowing anti-abortion groups the chance to bid to offer counselling services, she did not explain how the amendment would ensure that individual counsellors could be free of bias on such an emotive subject.
The move has also led to fears that anti-abortion campaigners in the UK are adopting US-style tactics of trying to influence the way abortion services are delivered rather than fight on the ethical issues raised by abortion.
If the amendment is debated in the Commons, the government may allow its MPs a free vote on the issue.
There is now a strong socially conservative bent within the Tory party which is supported by the prime minister.
In 2008, Andrew Lansley, William Hague and Liam Fox joined Cameron in supporting a cut to the legal limit for “social” abortions from 24 weeks to 22 weeks.
Dorries said that charity-run abortion services - including the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and Marie Stopes - had a financial conflict of interest in advising women seeking terminations since they are paid for the procedures they carry out.
The charities dispute this and say her proposal would add another layer of bureaucracy which could cause distress by delaying access to abortions.
They added that the counselling they offer is already independent and entirely separate from the other services they provide. In addition they said any suggestion that women would have to discuss an abortion with their GP before being referred to them could deter or delay them from seeking help.