SPUC is disturbed by government discussions on abortion counselling

Frank Field MP

SPUC is disturbed by a report that the Department of Health is in discussions with Labour MP Frank Field about how to change the law on counselling for women considering abortion.

An exclusive report in yesterday's Liverpool Daily Post revealed that Andrew Lansley, the health secretary, has invited Mr Field to talk to departmental officials about changing the law through regulations, rather than via amendments to primary legislation. Mr Field and Nadine Dorries MP have tabled amendments to the government's Health and Social Care Bill (see SPUC's comment on those amendments)

As Paul Tully, SPUC's general secretary, told the media earlier today:

"We are extremely disturbed at this news. We said when Mr Field and Mrs Dorries first announced their initiative that their efforts to try to stop women being exploited by pro-abortion counsellors could be twisted to have the opposite effect by Department of Health regulations. This is what we suspect is happening here. The high abortion rate in this country is driven by senior officials in the Department of Health who are strongly committed to abortion on demand - contrary to the 1967 Abortion Act. The Department of Health has no target for reducing abortions and rejects strategies that could help to drive down the rate.

On the contrary the teenage pregnancy strategy, which was supposed to halve under-18 births by 2010, is being continued by officials. The strategy promotes abortion, and the number of abortions among under-18s in the past 10 years has grown significantly."

Comments on this blog? Email them to johnsmeaton@spuc.org.uk
Sign up for alerts to new blog-posts and/or for SPUC's other email services
Follow SPUC on Twitter
Join SPUC's Facebook group
Please support SPUC. Please donate, join, and/or leave a legacy