Louise Nousratpour
Friday September 16, 2011
The Morning Star
Anti-choice Tory MP Nadine Dorries is planning to breathe new life into her already failed campaign to reduce the legal time limit for abortion - barely a week after a humiliating defeat in Parliament to alter the counselling process.
Last week MPs overwhelmingly rejected her amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill which would have forced women considering termination to go to "independent" counsellors.
Dorries argued that abortion providers and medical experts should be stripped of their exclusive responsibility for counselling, suggesting that advice given by not-for-profit organisations such as the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) and Marie Stopes was biased.
In an article for the right-wing Daily Mail newspaper on Monday, she insists that she had "won" the argument as ministers had now agreed to investigate how counselling is delivered.
"The next job," she declares, "is to get the upper limit down from 24 weeks to 20 before the lifetime of this Parliament is over."
Dorries's last attempt to cut the abortion limit to 22 weeks was defeated in Parliament in May 2008 following a massive campaign by the pro-choice lobby.
A disturbing fact is that David Cameron, then in opposition, voted for the proposal. And during last year's election campaign, the Tory leader reiterated his support for the anti-abortion campaign.
In her Daily Mail piece, Dorries repeats claims that the Lib Dems had "blackmailed" Cameron into voting down her counselling proposals, adding that, immediately after the vote, the premier had sent her a text message saying he was "sorry" and that he had "desperately" wanted to pass the amendment.
Following last week's debate, Health Minister Anne Milton said that the government agreed with the "spirit" of Dorries's amendment and would be bringing forward its own proposals on the "best" form of counselling.
The Department of Health will launch a consultation on the issue later this year, despite Milton's own admission that there is "no evidence" that existing services need reviewing.
Doctors and health charities warn that any changes to the current system could threaten access to "impartial and medically accurate" advice by opening up NHS contracts to anti-choice front organisations.
They are also concerned that another layer of counselling could delay the process and increase the number of late abortions.
A recent study by the Education for Change found that pregnancy counselling centres run by Christian and anti-abortion groups were giving "misleading and scaremongering" advice to pregnant women.
Its undercover researchers who posed as pregnant women reported that at one centre, Skylight Counselling, they were given material linking abortion to breast cancer and infertility.
Abortion Rights campaign co-ordinator Darinka Aleksic says the government's expressed support for changes to the counselling system is worrying.
"We will be keeping a close eye on the forthcoming consultation and proposals around that.
"The advice currently offered by abortion providers is as independent, accurate and impartial as counselling offered by doctors for any other medical procedures, such as treatment options around breast cancer.
"And suggestions that there is an abortion industry are completely baseless - providers are run as charities and do not make profits."
Aleksic adds that Britain already had one of the most restrictive abortion laws in Europe as women seeking termination needed two doctors' signatures.
As for Dorries's plans to resuscitate the campaign to reduce the abortion time limit, pro-choice campaigners insist both scientific evidence and public opinion are against it.
Research by the British Medical Association and the Commons science and technology group show that there has been no improvement in survival rates for births under 24 weeks - the current legal limit.
But the pro-choice lobby says there is no place for complacency, especially when top government brass, including Cameron, are sympathetic to the idea.
The Family Planning Association held a public meeting in the Commons on Monday, bringing together a cross-party of pro-choice MPs and organisations to decide the next step forward.
Spokeswoman Rebecca Findlay says the aim is to "organise a campaign that will promote evidence-based policy making to move the debate away from individual opinions and judgments."
The British Medical Association's ethics committee member Dr Evan Harries adds: "Our only victories have been defensive ones. There needs to be a campaign which will put us on the front foot."
THE FACTS:
- Abortion has been legal in Britain since 1967, but only by permission of two doctors and in restricted circumstances
- The 1967 Abortion Act only applies to England, Scotland and Wales. In Northern Ireland abortion can only be obtained if the woman's life is at risk and in some cases of foetal abnormality
- Abortion laws in the UK are more restrictive than in almost every other European country, where abortion on request is legal in the first three months of pregnancy
- 10 per cent of GPs consider themselves to be conscientious objectors and refuse to grant women abortions. According to their professional guidelines, conscientious objectors should refer a woman seeking an abortion immediately to another health-care provider. They are, however, not legally obliged to do so
- Late abortions are extremely rare but necessary - fewer than 1 per cent are carried out after 22 weeks. Almost 90 per cent of abortions take place in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy
- Marie Stopes International says 90 per cent of women using its services make their decision about abortion without choosing to speak to a counsellor
- 76 per cent of the UK population is pro-choice
Nursery given stay of execution
Louise Nousratpour
Wednesday August 31, 2011
The Morning Star
Royal Mail workers at London's largest sorting office celebrated a partial victory today in their fight to save their workplace nursery.
Communication Workers Union (CWU) negotiators revealed today that a breakthrough in talks late last week had given the Childsplay Nursery a five-month "reprieve" while its long-term future is discussed.
The facility at Mount Pleasant mail centre in north London was due to close in November but a high-profile campaign by working parents and CWU members has forced the company to consider alternatives.
CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward described the agreement as "excellent news for hard-working parents across London and good news for the company too."
But he acknowledged that there is still "a long way to go" to secure the nursery's long-term survival.
Roger Charles, the union's branch secretary at Mount Pleasant, said he was "very hopeful" that a positive solution would come out of the negotiations.
"The details of the proposals are sketchy but the mere fact that management are considering alternatives to outright closure, after refusing for so long, means that common sense is prevailing," he said.
The pioneering creche serves Royal Mail staff from across the capital and offers affordable childcare that suits their long and unsocial hours.
Mr Charles warned that many would find it "impossible" to stay in the job without the facility.
"This latest agreement gives us time to find ways of keeping the facility open and sustainable for as long as possible," he said.
CWU national equality officer Linda Roy added: "We've got a lot of work to do, but now that both the union and the company are on the same side I'm optimistic that we can save the nursery."
The CWU said that formal terms for upcoming talks between the union, Royal Mail and childcare provider Kiddy Care would be agreed next month and then all parties will "work towards a solution."
Wednesday August 31, 2011
The Morning Star
Royal Mail workers at London's largest sorting office celebrated a partial victory today in their fight to save their workplace nursery.
Communication Workers Union (CWU) negotiators revealed today that a breakthrough in talks late last week had given the Childsplay Nursery a five-month "reprieve" while its long-term future is discussed.
The facility at Mount Pleasant mail centre in north London was due to close in November but a high-profile campaign by working parents and CWU members has forced the company to consider alternatives.
CWU deputy general secretary Dave Ward described the agreement as "excellent news for hard-working parents across London and good news for the company too."
But he acknowledged that there is still "a long way to go" to secure the nursery's long-term survival.
Roger Charles, the union's branch secretary at Mount Pleasant, said he was "very hopeful" that a positive solution would come out of the negotiations.
"The details of the proposals are sketchy but the mere fact that management are considering alternatives to outright closure, after refusing for so long, means that common sense is prevailing," he said.
The pioneering creche serves Royal Mail staff from across the capital and offers affordable childcare that suits their long and unsocial hours.
Mr Charles warned that many would find it "impossible" to stay in the job without the facility.
"This latest agreement gives us time to find ways of keeping the facility open and sustainable for as long as possible," he said.
CWU national equality officer Linda Roy added: "We've got a lot of work to do, but now that both the union and the company are on the same side I'm optimistic that we can save the nursery."
The CWU said that formal terms for upcoming talks between the union, Royal Mail and childcare provider Kiddy Care would be agreed next month and then all parties will "work towards a solution."
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
