UK health secretary backs cutting abortion time limit

PanARMENIAN.Net - Jeremy Hunt, the UK new secretary of state for health, and Maria Miller, the new minister for women and equalities, have both declared support for cutting the abortion time limit, socialistworker.co.uk reports.

Hunt says he supports a drastic cut in the limit from 24 to 12 weeks. He voted for a 12 week limit during the 2008 parliamentary debate on the Human Fertilization and Embryology Bill.

Miller declares herself a “modern feminist” and says she is “driven by the practical impact that late term abortion has on women” to cut time limit to 20 weeks. She doesn’t say what the “practical impact” might be on women forced to carry an unwanted pregnancy to term.

David Cameron and Theresa May both back a cut to 20 weeks. A majority of cabinet ministers now favor cutting the time limit, the report says.

Lowering the limit to 20 weeks would affect a small but vulnerable minority of women seeking abortions. Of the 190,000 abortions carried out last year some 91 percent took place before 13 weeks. These figures cover England, Scotland and Wales only - abortion is still illegal in Northern Ireland.