Nadine Dorries' amendments stem from her own anti-abortion prejudice and don't even deliver what they claim. They are an insidious attempt to restrict access to a service that helps thousands of women every year.
Over the last couple of days Nadine Dories has achieved a remarkable feat. As a result of her activities in the House of Commons and lobbying on the Health and Social Care Bill I find myself appalled by Government policy and in complete agreement Laurie Penny of the New Statesman - something I never really thought would happen.
Now I've never been a tremendous fan of the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire. She has campaigned to reduce the time limit on abortion and is a member of the socially conservative Cornerstone Group (motto: Faith, Flag, Family - creepy or what?). I don't think we're going to see eye to eye on a huge range of issues. Nevertheless, this week she has surpassed even her own chequered history.
Dorries worries that women seeking abortions don't have access to proper counselling before going through with the procedure. Some of the principal sources of this counselling are the abortion providers themselves. Since these providers receive money from the NHS every time they perform an abortion, they are financially incentivised to counsel vulnerable women to have abortions.
This is where the nonsense starts.
It paints abortion providers as institutions not that exist not to furnish women with the ability to choose, but to perform as many abortions as they can. This is mental! How would Dorries react to the suggestion that midwives should be prevented from advising pregnant women? After all, they depend on women giving birth for their livelihoods!
But, I hear you cry, surely you can't really object to ensuring the counselling we provide is independent? It should help women make the decision that's right for them not just provide a justification. Fine. But there are two responses to this:
1. There's no evidence that the current system doesn't provide independent advice already.
2. THAT'S NOT WHAT THE AMENDMENT DOES.
When you read Dorries' amendments, available here, they don't create a framework for ensuring abortion counselling is independent. Oh, they use the word "independent", sure, but their definition is intriguing:
Information, advice and counselling on abortion is independent where it is provided by:
"either a private organisation that does not itself provide for the termination of pregnancies or a statutory body".
In other words, counselling provided by the Catholic Church is independent. An evangelical Christian telling a teenage girl that she will burn in Hell if she terminates her pregnancy is independent. A professional counsellor employed by Marie Stopes explaining the pros, cons and risks of abortion cannot be independent.
I'll leave it to the experts to tell you the ways in which this will harm vulnerable women. However, I am happy to denounce it as a cynical attempt to manipulate thousands of women into making the decision Dorries wants them to make. It shouldn't be Tory policy and it certainly shouldn't be government policy.
If you agree, you can contact your MP through the Abortion Rights organisation.
Over the last couple of days Nadine Dories has achieved a remarkable feat. As a result of her activities in the House of Commons and lobbying on the Health and Social Care Bill I find myself appalled by Government policy and in complete agreement Laurie Penny of the New Statesman - something I never really thought would happen.
Now I've never been a tremendous fan of the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire. She has campaigned to reduce the time limit on abortion and is a member of the socially conservative Cornerstone Group (motto: Faith, Flag, Family - creepy or what?). I don't think we're going to see eye to eye on a huge range of issues. Nevertheless, this week she has surpassed even her own chequered history.
Dorries worries that women seeking abortions don't have access to proper counselling before going through with the procedure. Some of the principal sources of this counselling are the abortion providers themselves. Since these providers receive money from the NHS every time they perform an abortion, they are financially incentivised to counsel vulnerable women to have abortions.
This is where the nonsense starts.
It paints abortion providers as institutions not that exist not to furnish women with the ability to choose, but to perform as many abortions as they can. This is mental! How would Dorries react to the suggestion that midwives should be prevented from advising pregnant women? After all, they depend on women giving birth for their livelihoods!
But, I hear you cry, surely you can't really object to ensuring the counselling we provide is independent? It should help women make the decision that's right for them not just provide a justification. Fine. But there are two responses to this:
1. There's no evidence that the current system doesn't provide independent advice already.
2. THAT'S NOT WHAT THE AMENDMENT DOES.
When you read Dorries' amendments, available here, they don't create a framework for ensuring abortion counselling is independent. Oh, they use the word "independent", sure, but their definition is intriguing:
Information, advice and counselling on abortion is independent where it is provided by:
"either a private organisation that does not itself provide for the termination of pregnancies or a statutory body".
In other words, counselling provided by the Catholic Church is independent. An evangelical Christian telling a teenage girl that she will burn in Hell if she terminates her pregnancy is independent. A professional counsellor employed by Marie Stopes explaining the pros, cons and risks of abortion cannot be independent.
I'll leave it to the experts to tell you the ways in which this will harm vulnerable women. However, I am happy to denounce it as a cynical attempt to manipulate thousands of women into making the decision Dorries wants them to make. It shouldn't be Tory policy and it certainly shouldn't be government policy.
If you agree, you can contact your MP through the Abortion Rights organisation.
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