Informed Consent: Abortion Bill voted out
Some 182 MPs voted against and 107 in favour of backbencher Ann Winterton’s 10-minute-rule bill Termination of Pregnancy (Counselling and Miscellaneous Provisions) in the House of Commons on Tuesday 5th June.
The proposed legislation included the proposal that women considering abortion receive proper counselling warning them of possible dangers to their physical and mental health, informing them of alternative help available, and providing them with a delay of seven days before making a final decision.
The Bill also required doctors to state on the notification forms whether the abortion was carried out on physical OR on mental grounds (instead of clubbing the two together as at present and thus obscuring the real reasons for the abortion).
Above info from CARE.
See my previous post for background.
To read a transcript of the debate and to see how MPs voted click here
You will see that in the debate Ann Winterton M.P. said the following,
Whenever an attempt is made to change the law on abortion, MPs and the press are inundated with ludicrous claims from abortion groups. One such claim is that women are being kept waiting for abortions, and that any amendment, however minor, will cause that wait to be even longer. In fact, the latest figures show that67 per cent. of abortions are carried out before the 10th week of pregnancy, and 89 per cent. are undertaken before 12 weeks. One young woman said recently:
“I had the pregnancy test on Monday, had a scan on Tuesday and the abortion on Wednesday, and no one asked me if I was sure.”
What is the reason for pressurising a young woman into making a major decision affecting her future without providing her with the full facts and a short period of reflection to give her time to consider her future?