Failure of Dorries bill points the way forward say pro-life lobbyists Westminster, Tuesday 31st October 2006 - The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), the world's first pro-life lobbying and educational organisation (founded 1967), has expressed relief at this afternoon's defeat of Nadine Dorries' abortion bill in the House of Commons. Paul Tully, SPUC general secretary, commented: "It is important for MPs to consider what is the right strategy for reducing the number of abortions. A bill of the kind Mrs Dorries has proposed could have made the situation worse - both for unborn babies and for women considering abortion. The provision in her bill to fast-track abortions after a cooling-off period could have left women more vulnerable to the pressures that lead to abortions. It might have increased rather than reduce the number of abortions. "As David Steel, the author of the 1967 Abortion Act has implied, lowering time limits may place women under psychological pressure to have abortions earlier. "We will continue to urge Mrs Dorries and other MPs to support moves to reduce the number of abortions but to avoid the pitfalls of the time-limits approach. The time-limits approach has been tried, tested, and proven to fail. In 1990, this approach led to the abolition of any time limit on the abortion of disabled babies. "The repeated omission of protection for the disabled from abortion bills both in this country and other countries has entrenched, and continues to entrench even further, lethal discrimination against the disabled, born and unborn." Note to editors: SPUC has the largest and most politically active membership among UK pro-life groups. It opposes abortion and supports legislative measures and other interventions to reduce the number of abortions.