Harman to Block Commons Votes on Liberalising Abortion Laws

Harriet Harman is planning to block a series of Commons votes tomorrow to liberalize Britain's abortion laws, which could have overturned a ban in Northern Ireland, in a move that was condemned as "disgraceful". To the dismay of pro-choice MPs, Harman is planning to argue that Britain's liberal abortion laws could be threatened in the House of Lords if MPs tamper with any aspect of the law. It was last changed in 1990.

The leader of the Commons has been saying in private that one key liberal element of the law - that the 24-week upper time limit does not apply in cases of severely disabled fetuses - could be overturned by peers if MPs change the abortion laws.

The Liberal Democrat MP Evan Harris last night condemned Harman's argument, saying: "That is a completely spurious allegation to give cover. It would be a disgraceful move if the government, having permitted anti-abortion amendments to reduce the time limit to be voted on at committee stage [in May], now prevents by a ploy a free vote on pro-choice reforms of the abortion law."

MPs are planning to table three amendments to liberalize Britain's abortion laws when the human fertilization and embryology (HFE) bill is debated by MPs for the final time tomorrow. The changes would have allowed one doctor to sanction an abortion, by ending the "two doctor" rule; permitted nurses to perform abortions; and legalized abortions in Northern Ireland.

Anti-abortion MPs, whose attempts to cut the 24-week upper limit were blocked in May, have also been planning their own amendments. They want a committee of MPs and peers to report within nine months on whether to change the abortion laws.

Harman, who spoke in favour of the latest pro-choice amendments from the opposition benches when a similar embryology bill was debated in 1990, is planning to invoke a special Commons procedure to block any vote on abortion. It is expected that she will introduce a procedural motion to decide the order in which MPs debate the bill. The motion, which would place abortion far down the list, would be subject to a three-line whip because the HFE bill is a government bill that will be subject to a three-line whip tomorrow. Votes on abortion laws, which can only be introduced by backbenchers, are always subject to free votes.

A government source said that Harman was acting because she feared that peers would overturn liberalizing abortion amendments, and then turn the clock back. "This bill is not the right vehicle to open up abortion laws," one government source said. "There could be unintended consequences."

But there was speculation last night that the government was acting to please the main political parties in Northern Ireland who are united in supporting the ban on abortions in the province. Some members of the Democratic Unionist party said its nine MPs voted in favor of the government's plan to detain terror suspects without charge for 42 days in June after ministers assured Northern Ireland's parties that the abortion ban would be retained.

The government wrote to all Northern Ireland parties saying that the HFE bill would be the wrong vehicle to change the law in Northern Ireland. Harris said: "If that is right, then that is disgraceful."

Audrey Simpson, director of the Family Planning Association in Northern Ireland, now known as the FPA, said: "We hope that Westminster MPs will resist any pressure to drop these amendments. They are the voices for Northern Ireland women with regard to access to abortion services, as they do not have a voice in the Northern Ireland assembly."

Emily Thornberry, the pro-choice Labour MP, said she had reluctantly come to terms with Harman's move. "We want to give poor women in Northern Ireland the right to have an abortion. They are being ruled by a law from 1861 and they are supposed to be British citizens.

"I don't accept [the government action]. But Harriet and Jan [Royall, the leader of the House of Lords] are liberal-minded, pro-choice women. If they tell me it's not possible, what do you do? It breaks your heart - but what do you do?"

Nadine Dorries, a Conservative MP, said the government was in a mess. "If the government didn't want abortion put into this bill they should have drafted it in a way that it couldn't happen. All they had to do was draft the long title accordingly. But Caroline Flint was the minister then and she wanted abortion to go on this bill, because the government was so arrogant they thought a whole series of liberalizing amendments would go through."