Shadow Health Minister speaks out on abortion

Diane Abbott MP, Shadow Health Minister and MP for Hackney North & Stoke Newington, has warned that the Government is taking troubling steps which may erode the “pro-choice calm” in this country.

Speaking at a pro-choice meeting at ActionAid’s headquarters in London organised by blog sites the Liberal Conspiracy and the F Word, Ms Abbott said: “We have seen some very worrying moves in the past month from the Coalition Government.

“They have appointed the anti-choice group Life to their expert Sexual Health Forum at the Department of Health, Michael Gove has lent his support to a new abstinence-based sex education group and Nadine Dorries has proposed a bill calling for teenage girls to say no to sex.

“These emotive anti-choice moves are a far cry from the Labour Government’s approach which was based on solid evidence and gave women and men choice over their reproductive and sexual lives.”

Ms Abbott said: “Many people in Britain take sexual and reproductive rights for granted. When President Obama was here last month it reminded me just how lucky we’ve been here to enjoy a long period of ‘pro-choice calm’. In the USA sexual health is highly politicised, highly volatile and highly unstable. We must not let the UK go down that route.”

Ms Abbott told the meeting that last year there were just under 190,000 abortions in England and Wales, 96 per cent of them funded by the NHS.

She concluded by saying: “We will monitor and oppose any attempts by the Government to undermine this country’s sexual health professionalism or to erode any aspects of our sexual and reproductive rights.”

-- ENDS --