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We praise the Lord that a proposed amendment to the Police, Crime, Sentencing and Courts Bill that would have permitted abortion up to birth for any reason was withdrawn yesterday.

New Clause 55, lodged by Dame Diana Johnson MP, sought to repeal all legal safeguards pertaining to abortion in England and Wales. If it had been approved, it would have:

• Opened the door to abortion on demand, for any reason, up to birth;
• Removed the requirement for a doctor to be involved;
• Removed conscience protections for medics who object to abortion;
• Opened the door to controversial ‘sex-selective’ abortions.

Ms Johnson withdrew the amendment before it went to a vote.

Rupa Huq MP also decided not to take her amendment, which would have introduced a gaol sentence of up to two years for offering support to women outside abortion clinics nationwide, to a vote.

We commend all those MPs who spoke up in opposition to the amendment, including Fiona Bruce and Danny Kruger.

Right to Life reports:

Polling from Savanta ComRes on whether time limits for abortion should be increased shows that only 1% of women want the time limit to be extended; in contrast, 70% of women favour a reduction in time limits. The polling also showed that 77% of women agree that doctors should be required to verify in person that a patient seeking an abortion is not under pressure from a third party to undergo the abortion, and 91% of women agree that gender-selective abortion should be explicitly banned by the law.

A poll from Savanta ComRes released last week showed that only 21% of the population support the introduction of nationwide ‘censorship zones’ around abortion clinics. It showed that support was lowest among 18 to 34-year-olds, with only 15% supporting the introduction of nationwide ‘censorship zones’ around abortion clinics.