| Winterton bill defeat a strong rejection of US style abortion battle |
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NEWS RELEASE - 5 June 2007 This afternoon, Abortion Rights, the national pro-choice campaign welcomed the strong rejection of Ann Winterton’s bill to restrict access to abortion. The controversial Ten Minute Rule Bill ‘Termination of pregnancy (counselling and miscellaneous provisions) would have introduced US style unfair obstacles to all women seeking to end an unwanted pregnancy and was defeated by 182 votes to 107.
Labour MP Laura Moffatt took the speech against the Bill. In response to Ann Winterton’s claim that her Bill was supportive of women’s rights Laura Moffatt questioned the real motives of Winterton, a high profile opponent of all abortion, and the bill's measures which are similar to restrictions imposed as a result of hard-line anti-choice lobbying in the US. Laura Moffatt said that this Bill ‘would deny every woman the ability to make the decision in the timeframe that is appropriate to them. . . . A cooling off period would prolong the anguish for women’.
Louise Hutchins, Abortion Rights Campaigns Coordinator said: ‘MPs must continue to reject the extreme minority anti-choice lobby’s attempt to turn the abortion debate in Britain into a US style political battle that has driven back similar rights in the US so quickly. ‘40 years after the Abortion Act, it is time the unfair barriers women still face from some doctors and weeks of NHS delays in accessing abortion services were removed not increased.’ ENDS For more information, or to arrange an interview with Abortion Rights or a woman who has had an abortion, please contact Abortion Rights on 020 7923 9792. NOTES TO EDITORS 1. Abortion Rights Abortion Rights is the national pro-choice campaign, working to defend and extend abortion rights and provide a pro-choice voice to the media. 2. The Bill TERMINATION OF PREGNANCY (COUNSELLING AND MISCELLANEOUS PROVISIONS) Ann Winterton That leave be given to bring in a Bill to require counselling of a pregnant woman as a condition of her consent to termination of her pregnancy; to require the pregnant woman to see a registered medical practitioner prior to receiving counselling; to introduce a minimum period of 7 days following counselling before registered medical practitioners may certify an opinion referred to in section 1(1) of the Abortion Act 1967; to require the forms used for certifying and giving notice of the reason for termination of a pregnancy to state risk to the physical and mental health of the pregnant woman as separate grounds for abortion; and for connected purposes. 3. Background The 1967 Abortion Act requires that two doctors must agree that the risk to a woman’s physical or mental health, or the risk to her children’s physical or mental health will be greater, if she continues with the pregnancy than if she ends it. This applies up until 24 weeks’ gestation. This Act does not apply in Northern Ireland. 4. Arguments against the measures of the Bill Enforced delays – cruel and unnecessary Once a woman has made a decision to end an intolerable pregnancy, any delay can be a source of considerable distress. In reality, women already frequently face unacceptable delays in a 'postcode lottery' of service provision. Notwithstanding government guidelines to limit service delays to no longer than three weeks, women can wait up to eight weeks, forcing many to turn to the independent sector and pay hundreds of pounds in fees. Any mandatory further delays in the process would be cruel and are completely unnecessary. Mandatory counselling - further obstruction This clause shows complete disregard for women’s ability to make their own abortion decision and to choose what support to accept in forming that decision. It is part of a condescending and baseless anti-choice lobby narrative that women are not capable of, and frequently don't, take such profound decisions about their life with seriousness, thought or appropriate discussion and support. Counselling should always be made available to women as a matter of choice but should always be non-directive and non-compulsory. The time taken to organise compulsory counselling sessions would build in further delay to a woman’s access to services in addition to the seven-day delay proposed by the Bill. Ann Winterton’s attempt to impose mandatory counselling on women is described by her allies in the British anti-choice movement as a first step in curbing the present abortion law. Indeed the requirement has been used in this way in several US states and in Australia where such delays are frequently accompanied by a requirement for the woman to read misleading anti-choice literature. Mental health Winterton’s British allies suggest the counselling should be used to warn women of ‘possible dangers to their physical and mental health’. In reality, successive studies have found that, contrary to anti-choice myths, terminating a pregnancy is a safe medical procedure and is less dangerous than giving birth. Studies also overwhelmingly show that choosing to have an abortion is less mentally distressing than the alternative – a woman being forced to continue a pregnancy against her will. Please follow links below for research on this. Pro-Choice Forum NARAL: Safety of Legal Abortion |
