Hellenic Business

Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt has said he favours a change in law that would halve the limit on abortions from 24 weeks into a pregnancy to 12.

Speaking ahead of the Conservative conference, he told the Times he felt 12 weeks was "the right point".

Labour's Diane Abbott said ministers should not be "playing politics with people's lives".

Downing Street said it was Mr Hunt's personal view and there were no plans to change the law.

The 24 week limit applies to England, Wales and Scotland. Abortion is illegal in Northern Ireland except in exceptional medical circumstances, such as when the mother's health is at risk.

There were nearly 190,000 abortions for women in England and Wales last year.

The figures, from the Department of Health, also suggest the vast majority - 91% - were carried out in under 13 weeks.
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It is just my view about that incredibly difficult question”

Jeremy Hunt Health Secretary

Mr Hunt said he wants to see a significant reduction in the limit which would prevent almost all abortions past that time.

The new health secretary, who is only a few weeks into his job, said he had reached the conclusion after studying the evidence.

"Everyone looks at the evidence and comes to a view about when they think that moment is and my view is that 12 weeks is the right point for it," he told the Times.

"It is just my view about that incredibly difficult question about the moment that we should deem life to start.

"I don't think the reason I have that view is for religious reasons."

The Department of Health said Mr Hunt was expressing a personal view, adding that the government's law and policy on abortion was clear.

Similarly, Downing Street has emphasised this is his personal view and there are no plans to change the law.

Prime Minister David Cameron has previously stated that he would like to see the limit reduced to 20 weeks.

Earlier this week, the new Women's Minister, Maria Miller, told the Daily Telegraph that the legal abortion limit should be lowered to 20 weeks.

Science 'breakthroughs'

Conservative MP Mark Pritchard, the vice chairman parliamentary pro-life group, has also said the limit should be cut.

"The existing laws on abortion lag well behind recent breakthroughs in science," he said.

Mr Pritchard went on: "Britain now executes abortions on an industrial scale. The high numbers are a scar on Britain's social landscape."

Opponents say that a 12 week limit would effectively prevent testing for conditions such as Down's syndrome.     

"I think women and families across the country will find it staggering that the priority for this government is playing politics with people's lives like this," said Ms Abbott, Labour's shadow public health minister.

Ms Abbott, who earlier this year resigned from a cross-party group on counselling given to pregnant women by abortion providers after dismissing it as a "front" for those who want it outlawed, said there was a "sustained ideological attack on the science and the rights that British women and families have fought for".

She said: "There is no evidence to support a reduction in the abortion time limit and this view is supported across the medical profession.

"Late abortion only affects a small number of women, who are often in extremely challenging circumstances."

Those sentiments were echoed by Darinka Aleksic, from pressure group Abortion Rights.

She said it was "absolutely outrageous" that the health secretary wants to "radically restrict access to those services".

"Abortion is an absolutely key part of women's healthcare. Clearly he hasn't looked at the scientific evidence around this at all because there's no medical basis for reducing the abortion time limit," she said.

BBC