31/10/2007

MPs Disagree On Easier Abortions

While some members of a powerful Government committee want it made easier for women to gain access to abortions, some of the MPs' collegues disagree.

A spokesman for the Science and Technology Committee said that there was no scientific justification for lowering the current 24-week limit for having an abortion.

The committee's report also recommended removing the current requirement for two doctors to sign forms before an abortion could be carrying out. It also said that nurses and midwives who were suitably trained should be able to carry out all stages of early medical abortions involving the use of drugs and early surgical abortions and added that there was no reason why woman should not be able to take the second stage of an early medical abortion at home.

Committee chairman Phil Willis said: "Abortion is a complex issue. Legislative decisions are informed by ethical, moral, religious and political views, case law, and scientific and medical evidence. We have focused on the science and have done so rigorously."

However, not all the committee members agreed on the report's findings. Conservative MPs Nadine Dorries and Dr Bob Spink have called for abortion laws to be tightened, while Labour MP Jim Dobbin said that the committee had rejected key findings, which were crucial to the debate.

(KMcA)


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