Natalie Bennett, chair of Green Party Women, and #4 on the 2012 London Assembly list, spoke today at an Abortion Rights press conference.
She talked about the amendments to the Health and Social Care Bill proposed by Nadine Dorries that would prevent abortion providers from counselling women seeking an abortion.
Bennett particularly addressed the issue of how incremental restrictions and additional unnecessary procedures around abortion would affect disadvantaged women.
She said: "We know that historically even when abortion was illegal, it was available to wealthier women and those with contacts.
"Restrictions such as those proposed - and we know from the American example how incremental restrictions have come to be piled on top of each other to the point of effective denial of access to abortion - will make life particularly difficult for disadvantaged women.
"Women who are living on the edge financially, who live in remote areas (and particularly those women who have to travel from Northern Ireland for abortions), and those in abusive or difficult relationships, would find the demand for a further visit to a different location, probably on a different day, particularly onerous."
She noted that there was no evidence of any problems with the current system.
Charities exist with the purpose of ensuring women are able to have control over their own bodies. These charities provide a service that is closely monitored by the Care Quality Commission, by commissioners, and by the charities' board of trustees and professional practice boards.
Bennett added that she was confident the amendment would be defeated tomorrow, and that after that it was important for politicians and campaigners who sought to ensure the welfare of women looked to making improvements to the current abortion provision, particularly in seeking the removal of the two-doctor rule and the unnecessary restrictions on the location of medical abortions.
She concluded: "We need to move forward, as well as defending the long-established provision of abortion services."
Notes
2) Green Party conference in Feb 2008 votes: "to back the removal of the rule that requires two doctors to approve a woman's decision to have an abortion, to allow abortions to be carried out by appropriately trained nurses and midwives up to three months of pregnancy, and to remove restrictions on where abortions can be carried out."