By Hilary White
LONDON, September 4, 2007 (LifeSiteNews.com) – A group of pro-abortion British MP’s from all parties in government will be launching a campaign to sweep away the last formal restrictions on abortion and make it available on demand. They want to allow nurses and midwives to kill unborn children and recommend increasing the number of facilities allowed to abort babies in the first trimester of pregnancy.
The Independent reports that the move is planned by a cross-party coalition of MP’s and is scheduled to coincide with the debate in the Commons on the Human Tissue and Embryo Bill which the government has admitted is likely to affect the abortion laws. It comes at the same time as a consortium of international abortion advocates are holding the Global Conference on Safe Abortion in London on the occasion of the 40th anniversary of the 1967 Abortion Act. A stated aim of the conference is to influence MP’s to abolish the remaining abortion restrictions in Britain.
The Parliamentary All Party Pro-Choice and Sexual Health Group includes, from the governing Labour party: Joyce Gould, Baroness of Potternewton; Baroness Betty Lockwood; Doreen Elizabeth Massey, Baroness of Darwen; John Heppell, Julie Morgan, Judy Mallaber, Chris McCafferty, Emily Thornberry, Lynda Waltho and Natascha Engel. From the official opposition Tories, the group includes: Baroness Shreela Flather; Crispin Blunt, Cheryl Gillan, Jacqui Lait, Baroness Pauline Perry of Southwark, Baron Robin Granville Hodgson of Astley Abbotts.
A major supporter of the group is the Labour party’s deputy leader, Harriet Harman, a well-known abortion and “gay rights” supporter who also serves as Leader of the Commons, Chair of the Labour Party and Minister for Women. Observers have said that it is likely the majority Labour party will give its support to the move and allow MP’s a free vote.
The Parliamentary abortion push follows recommendations made in June by the British Medical Association to allow abortions to be committed by midwives and nurses, and to eliminate the requirement for two doctors to approve abortions.
Under the current law, a formal justification for abortion must be given and ratified by two doctors. In most cases in England and Wales, abortions are legally justified under the term “health” of the woman, interpreted so broadly as to make abortion effectively available on demand already. The BMA recommendation would remove even this formal technicality.
At the time of the BMA report the Scottish Catholic Church, slammed the medical establishment for its “abysmal” failure to uphold current legislation that was ostensibly intended to restrict abortion. Peter Kearney, a spokesman for the Church told the Scotsman in June, “The changes they are proposing would probably make little difference in reality since we do have de facto abortion on demand in this country.”
The MP’s say that the aim of the initiative is to make abortion available on an “informed consent” basis. This recommendation for informed consent, however, comes as British authorities continue to suppress information about the nature of the unborn child.
In January this year, a British grandmother, Veronica Connolly, a member of the UK LifeLeague, refused to pay a fine following her conviction for distributing images of aborted babies to local pharmacies.
In 2006, 74 year-old Edward Atkinson was arrested and charged under the ‘Malicious Communications Act 1988’ after he sent similar photos to staff at the Queen Elizabeth hospital. He spent six hours in custody and was eventually fined £500 and sentenced to four weeks in prison. Atkinson was given a further two weeks jail-time for refusing to pay a fine of £650 from a 2002 conviction for a similar action.
Contact Baroness Joyce Gould
House of Lords,
London SW1A OPW
Tel: (44 207) 219 3293
Fax: (44 207) 219 6832
Read related LifeSiteNews.com coverage:
British Medical Association Backs Abortion on Demand, by Midwives
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jun/07060702.html
BMA Votes to Eliminate Second Doctor Approval for UK Abortion https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/jun/07062907.html
New Welsh Abortion Guidelines – Don’t Think, Just Do It
https://www.lifesitenews.com/ldn/2007/aug/07083109.html