Anger at government block on abortion debate

The UK government has introduced a motion that will effectively block the first Commons debate with the power to change the abortion law for 18 years.

This action means that there will be no foreseeable way for Parliament to authorise legal change. The new clauses that MPs will prevented from voting on are aimed at modernising the law to give women access to abortion earlier. These are evidence-based measures with the support of the medical and nursing professions. They are supported by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Royal College of Nursing, the British Medical Association, and the findings of the House of Commons Science and Technology Committee’s 2007 report ‘Scientific Developments Relating to the Abortion Act 1967’.

The intention, by Harriet Harman MP, Leader of the House of Commons, to invoke a special Commons procedure to block any vote on abortion during the Parliamentary debate on the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill on 22 October, was reported by the Guardian on 21 October. In a press statement, Ann Furedi, Chief Executive of BPAS said:

‘This misguided political opportunism would amount to a shocking act of betrayal of women by government ministers who have built their careers on claiming support for women’s rights.

‘House of Lords voting records show the reported government assertion that the Lords would reduce the time limit if abortion is discussed to be entirely baseless. In recent years, the Lords have voted for progressive positions eight times on embryo and abortion issues. These are claims made by MPs who, in May, predicted that the Commons would vote to restrict abortion. They were wrong then and are wrong now.

‘Last week, Dawn Primarolo, the Minister for Public Health spoke to a conference organised by the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Authority about the importance of the law keeping pace with scientific and medical developments. As a former Director of Policy as the HFEA, I understand how important legal modernisation is for infertility research and treatment. As Chief Executive of BPAS, I understand that legal modernisation is equally essential for abortion care, also a medical treatment affecting thousands of women in extremely difficult situations.

‘This debate on abortion law is acknowledged to be legally necessary to enable UK abortion care to be provided in accordance with evidence-based best practice. In 1990 a male, Conservative Secretary of State for Health enabled progressive abortion law reform as part of the debate on the first Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill. How did we get to the state where a female, Labour leader of the House now prevents it?’

Read on:

Anger at abortion debate timing. BBC News, 22 October 2008

Editorial: Abortion - Wrong choice. The Guardian, 22 October 2008

Labour’s stitch-up will deny women fundamental rights. By Polly Toynbee. The Guardian, 21 October 2008

Abortion right in Northern Ireland. Letter to The Times (London) by Diane Abbott MP et al, 22 October 2008

Abortion and the Catholic vote. By Katy Taylor. New Statesman, 22 October 2008

1967 Abortion Act section, Abortion Review