To ask pro-choice MNers to email your MPs? <this is not a request to vote on anything>

[EricNorthmansMistressOfPotions]

There is an article here about the proposed amendments to the health and social care bill which will force women to undergo 'independent' counselling before being allowed to choose to terminate a pregnancy. The assumption is that BPAS and the like have a financial investment in encouraging women to terminate and as such their counselling is biased. The stated goal is to reduce the number of terminations per year by forcing women to delay between seeking and receiving termination, and having to undergo additional counselling (political bias unknown, though easily guessed at) prior to the termination. ND hopes that woman will change their minds during this enforced extended waiting period.

If you think this is a shit idea you can email your MP by clicking this link

This is not a request to vote on anything at all

Why would anyone object to the coil? I can think of a few reasons.

I don't think there's any need to resort to personal insults just because someone has a different opinion.

Maybe you could campaign for an effective system of democratic accountability within the Conservative party's national organisation enabling the saner supporters to rein her in, then? Bit too Leninist for you? The shareholders were regarded as the saviours of the free world by Cameron in relation to banks, btw. Hope he's not too disappointed.

Thank goodness someone has posted about this already. For me personally, I am not ready to return to the backstreets and metal coathangers and gin.

Had a reply from my MP. He says he will look into the matter in detail when Parliament returns next week. Unfortunately he also says he has previously voted to tighten the law on abortion.

Didn't really expect a different answer from him.

Dorries would seem to representative of a particularly vicious form of Conservative moralism. And have no doubt, smallwhitecat, that it is Conservatism (indeed, it's neoconservatism, and has much in common with the Republican Christian right policies being forced on the poor and women in the US). You don't notice many socialists trying to force women into their idea of moral behaviour by trying to control what goes on in their wombs. Even control freak Blair (whom I loathe, incidentally) didnt' bother with that.

I'm very glad that you have more sensible views than others in your party, but that doesn't mean that Dorries' isn't a Conservative view. It is, as is blatantly obvious from the fact that your abominable leader has sneaked it in to his vile pro-privatisation NHS 'reforms'.

seem to be representative....

Thank you for the link. Have emailed.
The Guardian are looking for reader's thoughts re abortion counselling here

Have emailed.

The notion that charities like BPAS and Marie Stopes are encouraging people to have abortions because they provide them and receive money to do so, to me, is an extremely serious allegation, and if it were even suspected to be true, would warrant an urgent investigation and review of whether these organisations could be trusted to provide such a service, not an extra layer of counselling. Somebody needs to pull Dorries up on this very serious allegation and make her explain exactly what she means.

I agree with smallwhitecat This is about more than one political party

Signed, shared and utterly shocked by the reminder that we do not have unconditional access to the right to choose in any case. If anything should be reconsidered this should!

DH has also written an additional letter. Our MP will be thrilled.

smallwhitecat (sigh) I also loathe Labour moralists, and Lib Dem moralists. And Frank Field.

But the particular urgency to get control of women's wombs is right wing all the way. Field is a New Labourite. He's not a socialist. No one in their right mind could accuse New Labour of socialism or even being left wing. They were just paving the way for the real neocon lunatics- this lot.

I don't quite know what Frank Field is but I wouldn't say he was New Labour. He's in a category all of his very own. Odd man full of bizarre contradictions - I'm a bit obsessed by him.

LOL @ 'slander those with different political allegiances'. You're getting a touch of the Melanie Phillips there.

I merely pointed out that there are very strong right wing associations with anti-abortion politics. Not wrong, I'm afraid.

Apart from your obvious and fairly human need to lash out at people who for very many reasons think your party are a vile bunch of woman-hating poor-hating money-worshipping wankers (there is no finer way to put it) only marginally outdone in the vileness stakes by the US Republicans and Berlusconi's Forza Italia, you seem far more reasonable than the average Conservative. Let's hope that there are far more like you out there- because it sure doesn't look as if your party is doing much to combat 'ignorance, dishonesty and prejudice' in Parliament right now, does it?

David Alton got nowhere with his previous attempts at amendment and there were reasons for that- the presiding government wasn't interested, but Cameron's lot are because they are marginally left of the Tea Party.

If Dorries really believed that Marie Stopes et al were financially motivated and bullying women into unwanted abortions then surely she'd be campaigning for an enquiry into their practices? Rather than wanting to extend the time between a woman seeking an abortion and getting it?

the financial motivation point is sheer bollocks. These are charities which by definition are not for profit.

Quite, the only motivation that should be in question is Dorries!

Wonder what kind of companies have been funding her...

smallwhitecat, I think that associating Conservatism with sexism and misogyny is somewhat far from 'unhinged claptrap'. History and indeed the current moment would argue against you somewhat.

Touch of the Phillips, like I said. If you're not the usual reactionary Tory, good for you.