Cameron has jumped the gun with abortion-limit call London, - The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC) says that Mr David Cameron, the Conservative leader, has jumped the gun by calling for a reduction in the current 24-week deadline for abortion.

The Daily Mail yesterday reported that Mr Cameron would vote for a reduction if the opportunity was provided when the House of Commons debates the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill.

John Smeaton, SPUC national director, wrote in his blog : "With all due respect to Mr Cameron and the Daily Mail, they are jumping the gun. "Or rather, they are watching the wrong hare - one that isn't even running yet. Of prior importance is the HFE bill itself - a hare that is running, and on a disastrous course. It is a wholesale extension of the already deplorable law on embryology. The bill contains a plethora of measures that will lead to the abuse, manipulation and destruction of countless more embryonic human lives. "Talk about abortion amendments is, at best, a distraction which will prove helpful to the government which wants to maximise its majority at the Bill's second reading."

Any vote on abortion would be the first Parliamentary vote on the issue since 1990.