Downing Street forces U-turn on Nadine Dorries abortion proposals

[dipsydoodle]

The government has reversed its position on moves to strip charities and medics of their exclusive responsibility for counselling women seeking an abortion, saying it will now advise MPs to vote against proposals from a Conservative backbencher if they are put before the Commons next week.

The U-turn from the Department of Health came after Downing Street intervened in the row that arose when Nadine Dorries, the Tory MP for Mid Bedfordshire, tabled an amendment to the health and social care bill that would mean all women seeking an abortion were offered advice independent of the abortion provider. The government will continue to consult about ways to improve counselling services for women seeking a termination but the results are no longer a foregone conclusion.

Downing Street sources said that David Cameron, Nick Clegg and other senior members of the government would vote against the Dorries amendment.

The Department of Health had previously said that new "independent" counselling was a certainty.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/aug/31/downing-street-uturn-abortion-proposals

Common sense has prevailed.

More here :

The Prime Minister and Andrew Lansley, the Health Secretary, will vote against the proposals put forward by pro-life groups and campaigning MPs, The Daily Telegraph can disclose.

Their opposition follows claims that ministers were preparing to change long-established rules on advice given to pregnant women.

The matter will still be debated in the Commons, but No 10 made it clear for the first time that Mr Cameron would vote against the amendments to the Health Bill tabled by Nadine Dorries, a backbench Tory MP. Downing Street sources said that the proposed amendments would “exclude proper choice”.

It is understood that senior Liberal Democrats including Nick Clegg, the Deputy Prime Minister, were angry at suggestions that the Department of Health was prepared to back the changes which would introduce a mandatory obligation on abortion clinics to offer women access to independent counselling, to be run on separate premises by a group which does not itself carry out abortions.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/8734283/David-Cameron-will-oppose-plan-to-change-rules-on-abortion-advice.html

[DirkGently]

1. Their conservatives are almost as crazy as ours, apparently.

[dipsydoodle]

2. Anti-abortion bid in disarray as critics rally

The campaign to toughen Britain's abortion laws was losing momentum as Tory MPs on Friday backed a rival amendment and questions emerged about links to Christian counselling services that might benefit from the proposed reform.

Legislation initially proposed by Nadine Dorries and Frank Field would strip abortion providers such as Marie Stopes of their counselling role and hand it over to "independent" organisations not linked to abortion clinics.

But Dorries confirmed to the Guardian that the organisations supporting her campaign include a "crisis pregnancy centre" (CPC) – a type of advisory service often linked to religious anti-abortion activists.

Dorries is coming under pressure to reveal how her allies are funded. One of the most vocal public supporters of the Right to Know campaign backing the Dorries amendment to the healthcare bill is the lobby group Christian Concern, which is linked to a wealthy US evangelical organisation, the Alliance Defence Fund.

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2011/sep/02/anti-abortion-critics-nadine-dorries