Respond to Pro-Abortion MPs Letter to The Guardian

John Bercow MP (Conservative)

I just got a message from the SPUC.

The pro-abortion lobby has written a letter to The Guardian newspaper calling for widening of the abortion law and attacking the Catholic Church for opposing their proposals.

Catholic Church and the Right to Choose

The Catholic church is exhorting Catholics to oppose parliamentary reform of abortion law (Catholics must mobilise against abortion reforms, says archbishop, September 30) despite support for pragmatic modernisation from medical and nursing bodies and patient groups. The legal requirement for two doctors' signatures can delay women from abortion care. Reforms would permit abortion under the 24-week limit to be offered on the basis of informed patient consent and good clinical practice, as with other medical treatment.

Reforms would allow early abortions in community settings, such as GPs' surgeries, where appropriate. With medical abortion under nine weeks' gestation, reforms would allow one of the drugs used to be taken at home, as is routine in the US. These drugs are already taken at home by UK women after early natural miscarriage. The reforms aim to allow abortion earlier, which is acknowledged to be safer and less invasive.

Another proposal would extend the 1967 Act to Northern Ireland. UK citizens deserve equal legal rights to healthcare wherever they live and Northern Irish women should not have to travel to Britain for abortion in secrecy and stigma at their own expense. The Catholic church often speaks out against injustice and inequality, and supports the exercise of individual conscience in accordance with its beliefs. In contrast, sadly, its position on reproductive rights perpetuates injustice against women and fails to respect women's considered decisions, made in good conscience.

Jon O'Brien, Catholics for Choice, Ann Furedi, British Pregnancy Advisory Service, Julie Bentley, Family Planning Association, Simon Blake, Brook, John Bercow MP, Con, Buckingham, Dr Evan Harris MP, Lib Dem, Oxford West and Abingdon, Emily Thornberry MP, Lab, Islington South & Finsbury, Dr Wendy Savage, Doctors for a Woman's Choice on Abortion, Marge Behrer, Voice for Choice, Lisa Hallgarten, Education for Choice, Louise Hutchins, Abortion Rights

Please write – in your own words - letters in response to:

• the Guardian, by email to letters@guardian.co.uk or by post to: Letters to the editor, The Guardian, 119 Farringdon Road, London, EC1R 3ER

and/or

• the MPs who co-authored the letter:

- John Bercow, Conservative MP for Buckingham, email BERCOWJ@parliament.uk

- Dr Evan Harris Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, email info@evanharris.org.uk or HARRISE@parliament.uk

- Emily Thornberry, Labour MP for Islington South & Finsbury, email emilythornberrymp@parliame

nt.uk