Science Committee MP break ranks on Abortion.

As further to the below, Nadine Dorries, an MP sitting on the Science and Technology Select Committee that decided there was no case to lower the current 24 week limit on abortions in the UK, has issued a minority report, with the following executive summary. Interesting reading…

Upper limits

Unfortunately, the instutitions and those giving evidence have misled the Select Committee over whether foetuses below 24 weeks can survive. Foetal viability and the upper limit will be an incredibly important part of the debate and it was my opinion that MPs should be in possession of all the facts and given a balanced view of the evidence that was presented to the Committee.

The evidence quoted in the Chairman’s report relied entirely on information provided by a ten year old study and the Committee ignored the latest evidence on neo-natal survival rates from the best neo-natal centres in the UK and around the world.

Foetal Pain

There are two schools of thought on foetal pain, experts disagree and there are strong differences of opinion. The RCOG cherry picked their experts in order to agree with a pro-abortion argument. I felt it was important that MPs were aware of the two schools of thought and the nature of the conflicting evidence provided to the Committee.

One school of thought believes that a foetus cannot feel pain until after 26 weeks; and the other school of thought states a foetus can feel pain below 20 weeks; unfortunately only the first school of thought was represented in the Chairman’s report.

MPs have been misled in this report on two major issues: pain and survival. Two areas where experts strongly disagree and there is no clear consensus on either issue. The report should have reflected the differences of opinions which exist and allowed MPs to draw their own conclusions.

Abortion On Demand

This report has concluded that abortion in the first trimester is safer than normal childbirth and on that basis is pushing for abortion on request. However, if you take into account the long term health effects of abortion, particularly with respect to pre-term deliveries and mental health, this conclusion is at best questionable.

The report is shadowing facts with regard to the evidence that the Committee received about the health effects of abortion on women. This means that MPs may have been misled about what different experts think.

Medical Abortions

All medical abortions should be supervised with adequate pain relief, professional reassurance and access to expert medical help, particularly in the case of very young women and teenagers. The Chairman’s report takes no account in its recommendations of the practicality and reality of medical abortions, and the impact that asking a sixteen year old to dispose of her aborted baby would have on her.

MPs have not been given the opportunity to consider all the evidence that could have been made available. The facts have been shadowed and the report has been hijacked by those with powerful vested financial interests in the abortion industry.”

Hat-tip Iain Dale