A deadly week for the unborn
MPs keep abortion up to 24 weeks, back hybrid embryos and reject 'need for father'
By Anna Arco
23 May 2008

Houses of Parliament

MPs have overwhelmingly rejected attempts to reduce the time limit for abortion, marking the end of a devastating week for the pro-life movement in Britain.

The House of Commons also approved the creation of animal-human embryos and so-called "saviour siblings" and removed the requirement for fertility clinics to consider a child's "need for a father".

The votes are a major setback for the Catholic Church, which has campaigned vigorously against the Government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

Three Catholic Cabinet ministers risked their careers by repeatedly voting against the Bill. Ruth Kelly, the Transport Secretary, Des Browne, the Defence Secretary, and Paul Murphy, the Welsh Secretary, voted to halve the abortion limit to 12 weeks.

Despite giving Labour MPs a free vote, Prime Minister Gordon Brown had insisted the Bill was a vital part of his legislative programme and backed the existing 24-week limit on abortion.

On Tuesday evening, four amendments were tabled in the Commons to reduce the upper limit to 12, 16, 20 or 22 weeks. The amendment to shorten the limit to 12 weeks, tabled by senior Tory backbencher Edward Leigh, was rejected by 393 votes to 71, a majority of 322 votes. MPs also rejected all other attempts to reduce the time limit.

Although some MPs hoped the time limit would be reduced by a couple of weeks, some pro-life campaigners feared that the debate could lead to abortion on demand. But in the end there were no attempts to deregulate early abortions.

Evan Harris, the pro-abortion Liberal Democrat MP, tabled an amendment on Monday proposing to fully decriminalise abortion - which is still a criminal offence under the 1967 Abortion Act - but he withdrew his amendment before the debate.

Speaking in the House on Tuesday evening, Mr Leigh said the public supported a reduction and argued that Britain was "out of step" with other European countries. He told MPs: "In modern Britain, the most dangerous place to be is in one's mother's womb, which should be a place of sanctity. Ninety-eight per cent of abortions are social. Only 1.3 per cent are because of foetal handicap and 0.4 per cent are because of the risk to the mother's life. It is a bleak picture of modern Britain."

But Dawn Primarolo, the health minister, insisted there was no scientific evidence to support a reduction in the time limit. She accused pro-lifers of trying to ban abortion with a series of gradual reductions. She said: "The upper limit was set by Parliament in 1990 at 24 weeks because scientific evidence at the time was that the threshold of viability had increased.

"It has always been linked to the potential viability of the foetus outside of the womb. That was the case in 1967. It was the case in 1990 and certainly the case now."

On Wednesday morning John Smeaton, the director of the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, said: "People have to understand that the battle is not over yet. We need to redouble our efforts and launch an even stronger campaign so that the pro-abortion lobby does not use its majority in Parliament to push more pro-abortion legislation into law at the report stage."

Mr Smeaton added that "Evan Harris has put his cards on the table even if he withdrew the amendment" and there is a grave danger that abortion on demand will come up again during the report stage.

On Monday MPs rejected an attempt to ban the creation of "saviour siblings" - children created to aid a sick brother or sister - by 342 votes to 163.

An amendment that would have banned the creation of "human admixed embryos" - where human DNA is put into animal egg cells - for medical research was defeated in a free vote by a majority of 160.

On Tuesday attempts to preserve "a child's need for a father" in cases of IVF treatment were defeated, paving the way for two-mother families being enshrined in law.

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor criticised the measure. In an interview with a national newspaper, he said: "I think it is strange that the Government should want to take away not just the need for a father but the right for a father."

Ian Lucas, who co-ordinates the All-Party Parliamentary Pro-Life Group, said: "We will continue the fight to reflect the wishes of the public, and support the rights of the unborn child."