A BACKBENCH MP s campaign to reduce the time during pregnancy when an abortion is legally available has been lost in the House of Commons. Nadine Dorries, MP for Mid Beds, had secured a 10 Minute Rule Bill - a type of private members Bill allowing a back

A BACKBENCH MP's campaign to reduce the time during pregnancy when an abortion is legally available has been lost in the House of Commons.

Nadine Dorries, MP for Mid Beds, had secured a 10 Minute Rule Bill - a type of private members' Bill allowing a backbench MP to give a 10 minute speech to introduce and support a proposal - on the termination of pregnancy.

Her Bill proposed a reduction of the time limit for legal termination from 24 weeks to 21 weeks; an introduction of a 10-day cooling off period after a woman has first made contact with a medical practitioner about a termination and, after the cooling off period and following informed consent, fast-tracked termination.

The final vote in the House was 108 for the Bill and 187 against it. Mrs Dorries said: "Although my Bill on reducing the number of abortions was lost today, I will continue to campaign to reduce the number of abortions in Britain. Irrespective of people's views on the matter, my Bill has ensured this matter has been debated on the floor of the House of Commons once again - the first time this has happened for 16 years."

Julia Millington, political director for ProLife Alliance, said: "There is no doubt that Mrs Dorries' Bill was, for the most part, well intended.

"However, the proposed reduction to 21 weeks would have achieved very little given the intended exclusion of babies with disability who are, of course, the major victims of late abortion."

Sponsors of the Bill included Michael Howard and Iain Duncan Smith.