choose.
victory.
When the Tories won election it was inevitable that sooner or later we would be facing another threat 1o our half-way liberal abortion law.
Once the results of the Private Members' SPUC, the anti-abortion group, and Life, grass-roots organisation, turned their attention 1o John Corrie MP, had drawn first place. JOHN Corrie's anti-abortion Bill will not become law. Last Friday it fell after running out of parliamentary time.
That the Bill has fallen is a tribute to all the anti-Corrie campaigners in Britain, and particularly women. It shows that women, organised in a powerful movement which looks to the working class for support, are a force to be reckoned with by the Church, the state and this reactionary Tory government.
Now pro-abortion campaigners should go on the offensive and fight for a law that really does give women the right to JILL KENT, who has been sitting in the House of Commons following the debate, explains now near John Corrie came to the 1979 I0 order 10 problem of the faetuses. gress of concern lobby could be found. tne. anu-abordon who Gerard Vaughan, to ignore the Bill's many obvious failings and vote for it solve this distressing WELL. mistakes could be ironed out later and fully Some compromise, it was suggested, When a vote was taken after 4/2 each hours of debate, 242 MPs voted for the Bill and only 98 against. This majority was the highest yet for the second reading of, an anti-abortion None of the previous Bills had managed to reach a third reading, but Corrie had an unusually long parliamentary session ahead of him. Things looked bleak as his Bill was sent into The committee held one meeting before the summer recess and from 24 Octobel beran to sit in earnest for 2% hours every Wednesday morning. was constituted in proportion to lhe vote on the Bill, including only five JOHN CORRIE MP — he came near to victory • Known supporters of the anti-abortion lobby held the majority, and it soon became obvious that this was a full-scale assault on the Abortion Act.
As the committee went through clause of the big in turd. Corrie's supporters used majority to push through change when we looks era cla to appeal to MPs in the next debate at the report stage, in fact considerabl! tightened up Corrie's proposals.
The Bill emerged from committee before Christmas more damaging and more confusingly drafted than ever AS parliamentar February approached it began to look sabotaged their own Bill by making it too long and complicated to pass the report stage in the short time available to it.
They began asking for extra time, and filibustered the committee stage of the Seat Belts Bill in order to keep 15 February clear.
As the February Corrie resorted lo desperale tactics: he tried to withdraw all those parts of the Bill which had yet to be discussed and would reaching the third reading vote. had discussed, The Friends Meeting House, , Euston Rd (opp. Euston Station)
PO Box 353, London NW5 or ring 01-485 2872 rapidly, and on the first closure vote of the 14 March debate Corrie was defeated 147 votes to 140. This meant that MPs were not willing to push on for a thind reading and the Bill finall: ran out of time on that Friday, several voting divisions left and (wo amendments which had not yet been anti-abortionists had mel with defeat once again.
By this point a 24 week time limit