The Third Special Report of the Select Committee on the Abortion (Amendment) Bill published ten days ago, makes a feeble attempt to make the James White Bill more palatable.
The Committee, which split on the most restrictive clauses, has been only able to agree on a few recommendations for Government action. Although the Report follows the original Bill in putting verbal emphasis on ending the exploitation of women in the private sector, the issue is dodged. There is one obvious way to end the economic exploitation of women seeking termination of pregnancies-extend the National Health Service and abolish the private sector completely.
But with the Labour Government hell-bent on slashing cuts in public expenditure, and naturally enjoying Tory support for this policy, the NHS is chronically and deliberately under-financed.
The Committee recommends that the Secretaries of State set up a 'white list of so-called satisfactory "have to use. As the National Abortion Campaign says: "This sledgehammer clause, intended to deal with the very small number of agencies which have been known to exploit women, will, in fact, greatly restrict access to information and referral." If a 'white' list is to be drawn up, then as NAC says, 'it should be clearly displayed in public places (railways, council notice boards, libraries, etc) so that women know where to go.
The Select Committee Report lists people from whom it has heard evidence. Noticeably absent from the list are representatives from women trade unionists and women's groups-but then they are only the people affected taking selective evidence from organIsations like the British Medical Association and other conservative medical groups, the overwhelming majority of evidence has been opposed to the James White Bill.
Clearly the Select Committee is both unrepresentative of the views and needs of millions of women. The only progressive measure it can introduce is a motion to dissolve itself. But that is an unlikely occurrence because there is no doubt that there is a bi-partisan agreement between the Labour and Tory leaders on the need to restrict the inadequate 1967 Act even further.
The big demonstration in London this June showed the enormous support that exists for building a movement against restrictive legagencies which approved clinics would islation on abortion. Since then the campaign has been taken into even wider circles as work.gets underway to build the NAC Conference on 18 October. This work should now be stepped up to make the 18 October Conference as large as possible so that it can build a real mass movement on the right of women to take their own choice and control their own against cut-backs PICKET