Lord Steel, who introduced the Bill that legalised abortion in 1967, has warned against the “growing problem” of women using abortions on demand as a means of “contraception”.
Latest figures for 2011 show that one third (36 per cent) of abortions carried out in England and Wales were performed on women who had undergone a pregnancy termination previously. The figure is higher than the number of repeat terminations carried out in the previous year (34 per cent).
Undesirable
Lord Steel said that the use of abortion as a form of birth control was both “undesirable” and “never the purpose” of the Abortion Act when he had brought legislation forward.
The comments were made by the former liberal leader during a question and answer session in the House of Lords with Health Minister Earl Howe earlier this month.
Problem
He asked: “Will he [Mr Howe] confirm that there has been a welcome drop in the total number of abortions recently, but that there is still a problem of what are called repeat abortions, where women present who are clearly using abortion as a form of contraception, which is thoroughly undesirable?”
Mr Howe replied: “…On repeat abortions, the news is not so good. The proportion of repeat abortions for women who had abortions in 2011 was 36 per cent. The figure was higher than it had been the previous year, which is a matter for concern.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail, Lord Steel said: “It is odd that so many women present for repeat abortions, some more than twice, which does suggest they are treating abortion as contraception.
This was never the purpose of the 1967 reform.”
Face reality
Josephine Quintavalle, of ProLife Alliance, said: “David Steel needs to face the reality of the provision of abortion in this country, that it is not just being provided for women in dramatic need but is available on demand.
“It was verging on the ingenuous of him to imagine when he brought forward his legislation in 1967 that abortion wouldn’t end up being available on demand.
“The trouble is that many people think there is nothing wrong with repeat abortions. They say: abortion is either right or wrong, so if you can have one you should be able to have as many as you can ask for.”
Repeat abortions cost the NHS nearly £1 million a week.
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