During Prime Minister's questions the Labour leader slipped a cheeky reference to George Osborne's alleged links to dominatrix Natalie Rowe.
Ed Miliband used his time at the Dispatch box to criticise the Government's plans to cut support for childcare at a time of rising unemployment for women. He then accused Chancellor George Osborne of "lashing himself to the mast" in his refusal to change course over the economy.
The apparently deliberate reference produced laughter from the Labour benches.
Lest anyone be in any doubt what the meant, Mr Miliband added after a pause: "not for the first time, perhaps".
On Monday, old – and strongly denied – allegations resurfaced about George Osborne's links to an escort agency charging clients for sadomasochistic sex.
Showing posts with label Women. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Women. Show all posts
Thursday, 15 September 2011
Wednesday, 7 September 2011
Nadine Dorries' Abortion Proposals Heavily Defeated In Commons
Abortion amendment that bids to strip termination providers of their counselling role loses by 250 votes with supporters divided
Nadine Dorries debates plans to bar abortion providers from giving advice to pregnant women.
An attempt to strip abortion providers of their role in counselling women was heavily defeated in the House of Commons this afternoon after a split between the original supporters of the amendment.
MPs voted by 368 votes to 118 – a majority of 250 – to reject the amendment by the Tory backbencher Nadine Dorries after she lost the support of her co-sponsor, the former Labour minister Frank Field.
Dorries managed to win the support of three cabinet ministers – Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, Liam Fox, the defence secretary, and Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland secretary.
Field withdrew his support for the Dorries amendment after Anne Milton, the health minister, said the government would try to implement the spirit of her proposal.
Milton told MPs: "The government is … supportive of the spirit of these amendments and we intend to bring forward proposals for regulations accordingly, but after consultation. Primary legislation is not only unnecessary but would deprive parliament of the opportunity to consider the detail of how this service would develop and evolve."
Dorries hailed Milton's undertaking as a victory. She told the BBC's Norman Smith: "We lost the battle but we have won the war."
Milton distanced the government from the amendment towards the end of a stratchy debate in which Dorries said that David Cameron had initially encouraged her.
Dorries claimed that the prime minister had advised her on the wording of her amendment by saying that she should describe abortion counsellors as independent.
Dorries said: "I went to see the prime minister regarding this amendment and he was very encouraging. In fact it was at the prime minister's insistence that I inserted the word 'independent'. I attended a meeting at the department of health and at that meeting it was decided what the outcome, the process that would be implemented, to make this a reality."
The Dorries amendment would have stripped non-statutory abortion providers such as Marie Stopes and Bpas from offering counselling to women. This was designed to provide greater opportunities for independent counsellors, some of whom are influenced by pro-life groups, to provide counselling. NHS abortion providers would still be free to offer counselling.
Dorries claimed that the prime minister changed his mind under pressure from Nick Clegg, after the deputy prime minister was lobbied by the former Lib Dem MP Evan Harris. Dorries said: "Basically the Liberal Democrats, in fact a former MP who lost his seat in this place, is blackmailing our prime minister. Our prime minister has been put in an impossible position regarding this amendment. Our health bill has been held to ransom by a former Liberal Democrat MP."
A senior Lib Dem source dismissed her allegation. The source said: "That is utter rubbish. [Nick] doesn't need Evan to tell him the problems with her amendment."
The defeat was welcomed by Bpas. Ann Furedi, its chief executive, said: "Bpas is pleased to see Nadine Dorries' amendment so overwhelmingly rejected. We look forward to being able to focus our efforts on the issues which pose a genuine problem for women considering ending a pregnancy."
Dorries insisted that she did not want to restrict access to abortion. "I do not want to return to the days of back street abortionists," she said. "I am pro-choice. Abortion is here to stay."
The MP said that it was wrong for abortion providers to counsel women with unplanned pregnancies. "It must be wrong that the abortion provider, who is paid to the tune of £60m to carry out terminations, should also provide the counselling if a woman feels strong or brave enough to ask for it. If an organisation is paid that much for abortions, where is the incentive to reduce them?"
Diane Abbott, the shadow public health minister, said: "This amendment is a shoddy, ill-conceived attempt to promote non-facts to make a non-case – namely that tens of thousands of women every year are either not getting counselling that they request or are getting counselling that is so poor that only new legislation can remedy the situation. In matters of this kind, if legislation is the answer then you have almost certainly asked the wrong question."
Nadine Dorries debates plans to bar abortion providers from giving advice to pregnant women.
An attempt to strip abortion providers of their role in counselling women was heavily defeated in the House of Commons this afternoon after a split between the original supporters of the amendment.
MPs voted by 368 votes to 118 – a majority of 250 – to reject the amendment by the Tory backbencher Nadine Dorries after she lost the support of her co-sponsor, the former Labour minister Frank Field.
Dorries managed to win the support of three cabinet ministers – Iain Duncan Smith, the work and pensions secretary, Liam Fox, the defence secretary, and Owen Paterson, the Northern Ireland secretary.
Field withdrew his support for the Dorries amendment after Anne Milton, the health minister, said the government would try to implement the spirit of her proposal.
Milton told MPs: "The government is … supportive of the spirit of these amendments and we intend to bring forward proposals for regulations accordingly, but after consultation. Primary legislation is not only unnecessary but would deprive parliament of the opportunity to consider the detail of how this service would develop and evolve."
Dorries hailed Milton's undertaking as a victory. She told the BBC's Norman Smith: "We lost the battle but we have won the war."
Milton distanced the government from the amendment towards the end of a stratchy debate in which Dorries said that David Cameron had initially encouraged her.
Dorries claimed that the prime minister had advised her on the wording of her amendment by saying that she should describe abortion counsellors as independent.
Dorries said: "I went to see the prime minister regarding this amendment and he was very encouraging. In fact it was at the prime minister's insistence that I inserted the word 'independent'. I attended a meeting at the department of health and at that meeting it was decided what the outcome, the process that would be implemented, to make this a reality."
The Dorries amendment would have stripped non-statutory abortion providers such as Marie Stopes and Bpas from offering counselling to women. This was designed to provide greater opportunities for independent counsellors, some of whom are influenced by pro-life groups, to provide counselling. NHS abortion providers would still be free to offer counselling.
Dorries claimed that the prime minister changed his mind under pressure from Nick Clegg, after the deputy prime minister was lobbied by the former Lib Dem MP Evan Harris. Dorries said: "Basically the Liberal Democrats, in fact a former MP who lost his seat in this place, is blackmailing our prime minister. Our prime minister has been put in an impossible position regarding this amendment. Our health bill has been held to ransom by a former Liberal Democrat MP."
A senior Lib Dem source dismissed her allegation. The source said: "That is utter rubbish. [Nick] doesn't need Evan to tell him the problems with her amendment."
The defeat was welcomed by Bpas. Ann Furedi, its chief executive, said: "Bpas is pleased to see Nadine Dorries' amendment so overwhelmingly rejected. We look forward to being able to focus our efforts on the issues which pose a genuine problem for women considering ending a pregnancy."
Dorries insisted that she did not want to restrict access to abortion. "I do not want to return to the days of back street abortionists," she said. "I am pro-choice. Abortion is here to stay."
The MP said that it was wrong for abortion providers to counsel women with unplanned pregnancies. "It must be wrong that the abortion provider, who is paid to the tune of £60m to carry out terminations, should also provide the counselling if a woman feels strong or brave enough to ask for it. If an organisation is paid that much for abortions, where is the incentive to reduce them?"
Diane Abbott, the shadow public health minister, said: "This amendment is a shoddy, ill-conceived attempt to promote non-facts to make a non-case – namely that tens of thousands of women every year are either not getting counselling that they request or are getting counselling that is so poor that only new legislation can remedy the situation. In matters of this kind, if legislation is the answer then you have almost certainly asked the wrong question."
Public Reject Dorries' Abortion Proposal
Tomorrow, MPs will debate whether to prevent abortion providers from counselling women seeking an abortion. The motion – put forward by Tory backbencher Nadine Dorries as an amendment to the Health and Social Care bill – is being opposed by the government, and pro-choice groups are backing a rival amendment, which reinforces the status quo. The amendement's author, Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert says:
"The present system which allows women access to evidence-based guidance works, therefore I cannot see why we need to change it. I do not want to see us opening the door to anti choice organisations which could prevent women making their own decision on such a momentus issue."
And a YouGov poll released today shows that, were the public to be voting instead of MPs, they would be much more likely to back Huppert's amendment than Dorries'.
Fewer than one-in-four people support changing the law to prevent charities like BPAS and Marie Stopes from providing counselling, while 40 per cent oppose it. And, strikingly, Conservative voters are no more likely to support Dorries' motion than the public as a whole. In addition, a majority dismiss the notion that "it is too easy for women to obtain abortions in Britain":
These results are hardly surprising in a country that is predominantly pro-choice, as shown by a poll yesterday showing more than three-to-one support for the claim that "if a woman wants to have an abortion, she should not have to continue her pregnancy".
"The present system which allows women access to evidence-based guidance works, therefore I cannot see why we need to change it. I do not want to see us opening the door to anti choice organisations which could prevent women making their own decision on such a momentus issue."
And a YouGov poll released today shows that, were the public to be voting instead of MPs, they would be much more likely to back Huppert's amendment than Dorries'.
Fewer than one-in-four people support changing the law to prevent charities like BPAS and Marie Stopes from providing counselling, while 40 per cent oppose it. And, strikingly, Conservative voters are no more likely to support Dorries' motion than the public as a whole. In addition, a majority dismiss the notion that "it is too easy for women to obtain abortions in Britain":
These results are hardly surprising in a country that is predominantly pro-choice, as shown by a poll yesterday showing more than three-to-one support for the claim that "if a woman wants to have an abortion, she should not have to continue her pregnancy".
Monday, 5 September 2011
Why Cameron Must Stop Running Scared Of These Abortion Zealots
Many who gaze across the Atlantic have long been amazed at the way in which the toxic issue of abortion fundamentally distorts the U.S. political agenda.
With a certain amount of smugness, the British have told themselves that things are very different in the UK.
Here, such issues are settled not by divisive decisions of the courts, as in the U.S., but through the democratic and unifying route of Parliamentary debate and votes.
Yet now it appears that abortion hysteria is beginning to distort British politics, too.
Amendment: Frank Field and Nadine Dorries have been pushed the law changed, yet it looks as though their proposals will be lost after a screeching u-turn.
Just one week ago, an amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill drafted by Tory MP Nadine Dorries and Labour MP Frank Field looked set to sail through the Commons on a wave of general approval.
Their amendment — to be debated in the Commons this week — aims to break the stranglehold of abortion clinics which are the sole state-funded providers of counselling to pregnant women who are contemplating abortion.
The measure would open up to independent counsellors this optional process of advice and guidance to avoid any possible conflict of interest by abortion providers.
According to opinion polls, no fewer than 92 per cent of MPs, along with around three-quarters of the public, said they supported the amendment. For its part, the Government let it be known that it was already developing proposals to introduce independent abortion counselling for women.
Nevertheless, the amendment now seems likely to be lost because the Government has performed a screeching U-turn and urged MPs to vote against it.
In an unprecedented letter to Tory MPs, Health Minister Anne Milton said that ministers would themselves vote to block it. This has been interpreted by some Tory MPs at least as a covert attempt to whip them all into the ‘no’ lobby.
Yet abortion has always been decided by free votes rather than the imposition of party lines. So why has the Government suddenly decided to wreck both the amendment and this sacred constitutional protection for issues of conscience?
Unprecedented: Anne Milton sent a letter to Tory MPs saying that minister would vote to block the proposals.
It has been suggested that this was yet another example of Nick Clegg forcing David Cameron to adopt a Left-wing position. Well, maybe.
What seems more plausible, however, is that with the Prime Minister’s antennae so finely tuned to the Guardian/BBC agenda, he simply took fright at the vitriol being hurled from the Left.
If so, this demonstrates once again the power of the campaigns of instantaneous demonisation and denunciation now employed to silence those who uphold a socially conservative position by tarring and feathering them as swivel-eyed bigots. It is particularly instructive that the amendment’s co-sponsor, Frank Field, has not been subjected to the abuse being hurled at Nadine Dorries.
For Field is a decent and principled man of the Left. But those seeking to characterise the measure as an import from what they portray as the knuckle-dragging, U.S. Right-wing Christian fundamentalist agenda cannot acknowledge Field’s involvement.
For this would destroy the demonisation strategy by suggesting the amendment is motivated by sound and decent principles. So, tellingly, Field has been all but airbrushed out of this venomous campaign. It is Dorries, the Tory bogeywoman, who receives the hate mail and death threats.
The impetus behind the amendment is a change in British attitudes. While only a minority would want abortion made illegal once again, thus returning to the evils of back-street butchery, there is now widespread revulsion over two aspects in particular of the current situation.
The first is the unmistakeable humanity of the foetuses subjected to late abortion. The second is the enormous abortion rate, which last year amounted to more than 200,000 terminations in England and Wales.
According to Dorries, up to half of those women who have independent counselling change their minds and decide not to abort. However, when women are referred straight to an abortion clinic for counselling, that number can be as low as 8 per cent.
It does not follow from these figures that the two abortion clinics providing most of the available counselling, Marie Stopes International and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, are subjecting vulnerable pregnant women to pro-abortion propaganda.
Maybe they do exude a more subtle ethos of pro-abortion sympathies — but that would hardly be surprising, since they are, after all, abortion clinics.
The reason for the different rates might merely be that women who seek out independent counselling have a more open mind in the first place and so are more likely to decide to have the baby.
Counselling service: Statistics appear to show Marie Stopes and other clinics to be be pro-abortion and therefore offer advice that way - but it is not surprising given that abortion is the very reason they exist.
Whatever the explanation, surely only a zealot would be complacent about the huge number of abortions — a number which was never envisaged when the procedure was legalised.
Dorries has been pilloried for declaring that she wants to bring the number down. Yet how can any decent person not want to bring down the huge rate of what should only be a procedure of last resort?
Some of the objections used in the past week — that if tens of thousands more children were born as a result this would put pressure on social services — have been spine-chillingly callous.
They are sobering evidence of the brutalisation of attitudes that abortion virtually on demand has brought in its wake.
So if independent counselling would reduce this toll, who could possibly object? Only the pro-abortion zealots, whose visceral hostility to faith-based counselling is based on the fact that this changes some women’s minds.
This is no more than opposition to thinking independently. To put it another way, to the pro-abortion lobby, if a woman decides against having an abortion after counselling, she has been brainwashed, but if she decides to go ahead with it she has reached her own decision.
Now we can see the vacuity of the pro-abortion slogan: ‘A woman’s right to choose.’ From the reaction to the Dorries-Field amendment, a woman only has the right to choose counselling that is pro-abortion.
Compromise: Louise Mensch has put forward proposals suggesting women should be able to receive support from faith based charities and abortion clinics.
Having said that, it does seem unnecessarily divisive to prevent abortion clinics from themselves offering counselling. Surely women should be able to access counselling from both faith-based charities and abortion clinics, as another compromise amendment by the Tory MP Louise Mensch is suggesting.
This would seem to allow various folk to climb down from their respective trees. After all, Downing Street said the Prime Minister supported providing women with more counselling about their pregnancies, but didn’t want to shut down what was provided by Marie Stopes and the BPAS.
Nevertheless, the Government has refused to back even the Mensch compromise. By way of explanation, the Department of Health came up with a prize bit of obfuscatory waffle about there being no need to define independent counselling.
This makes little sense. The real reason is surely that this Conservative Prime Minister is running so scared of the ‘nasty party’ tag that no compromise with the Left is possible.
But what is nice about thinking there is nothing wrong with 200,000 abortions a year? What is nice about wanting to prevent pregnant women from accessing different types of counselling? What is nice about demonising people in order to shut down debate?
Surely this is what is really nasty. The country is crying out for leadership to stand up to this kind of bullying and intimidation. The Prime Minister should get up off his knees and support women’s genuine right to choose.
With a certain amount of smugness, the British have told themselves that things are very different in the UK.
Here, such issues are settled not by divisive decisions of the courts, as in the U.S., but through the democratic and unifying route of Parliamentary debate and votes.
Yet now it appears that abortion hysteria is beginning to distort British politics, too.
Amendment: Frank Field and Nadine Dorries have been pushed the law changed, yet it looks as though their proposals will be lost after a screeching u-turn.
Just one week ago, an amendment to the Health and Social Care Bill drafted by Tory MP Nadine Dorries and Labour MP Frank Field looked set to sail through the Commons on a wave of general approval.
Their amendment — to be debated in the Commons this week — aims to break the stranglehold of abortion clinics which are the sole state-funded providers of counselling to pregnant women who are contemplating abortion.
The measure would open up to independent counsellors this optional process of advice and guidance to avoid any possible conflict of interest by abortion providers.
According to opinion polls, no fewer than 92 per cent of MPs, along with around three-quarters of the public, said they supported the amendment. For its part, the Government let it be known that it was already developing proposals to introduce independent abortion counselling for women.
Nevertheless, the amendment now seems likely to be lost because the Government has performed a screeching U-turn and urged MPs to vote against it.
In an unprecedented letter to Tory MPs, Health Minister Anne Milton said that ministers would themselves vote to block it. This has been interpreted by some Tory MPs at least as a covert attempt to whip them all into the ‘no’ lobby.
Yet abortion has always been decided by free votes rather than the imposition of party lines. So why has the Government suddenly decided to wreck both the amendment and this sacred constitutional protection for issues of conscience?
Unprecedented: Anne Milton sent a letter to Tory MPs saying that minister would vote to block the proposals.
It has been suggested that this was yet another example of Nick Clegg forcing David Cameron to adopt a Left-wing position. Well, maybe.
What seems more plausible, however, is that with the Prime Minister’s antennae so finely tuned to the Guardian/BBC agenda, he simply took fright at the vitriol being hurled from the Left.
If so, this demonstrates once again the power of the campaigns of instantaneous demonisation and denunciation now employed to silence those who uphold a socially conservative position by tarring and feathering them as swivel-eyed bigots. It is particularly instructive that the amendment’s co-sponsor, Frank Field, has not been subjected to the abuse being hurled at Nadine Dorries.
For Field is a decent and principled man of the Left. But those seeking to characterise the measure as an import from what they portray as the knuckle-dragging, U.S. Right-wing Christian fundamentalist agenda cannot acknowledge Field’s involvement.
For this would destroy the demonisation strategy by suggesting the amendment is motivated by sound and decent principles. So, tellingly, Field has been all but airbrushed out of this venomous campaign. It is Dorries, the Tory bogeywoman, who receives the hate mail and death threats.
The impetus behind the amendment is a change in British attitudes. While only a minority would want abortion made illegal once again, thus returning to the evils of back-street butchery, there is now widespread revulsion over two aspects in particular of the current situation.
The first is the unmistakeable humanity of the foetuses subjected to late abortion. The second is the enormous abortion rate, which last year amounted to more than 200,000 terminations in England and Wales.
According to Dorries, up to half of those women who have independent counselling change their minds and decide not to abort. However, when women are referred straight to an abortion clinic for counselling, that number can be as low as 8 per cent.
It does not follow from these figures that the two abortion clinics providing most of the available counselling, Marie Stopes International and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, are subjecting vulnerable pregnant women to pro-abortion propaganda.
Maybe they do exude a more subtle ethos of pro-abortion sympathies — but that would hardly be surprising, since they are, after all, abortion clinics.
The reason for the different rates might merely be that women who seek out independent counselling have a more open mind in the first place and so are more likely to decide to have the baby.
Counselling service: Statistics appear to show Marie Stopes and other clinics to be be pro-abortion and therefore offer advice that way - but it is not surprising given that abortion is the very reason they exist.
Whatever the explanation, surely only a zealot would be complacent about the huge number of abortions — a number which was never envisaged when the procedure was legalised.
Dorries has been pilloried for declaring that she wants to bring the number down. Yet how can any decent person not want to bring down the huge rate of what should only be a procedure of last resort?
Some of the objections used in the past week — that if tens of thousands more children were born as a result this would put pressure on social services — have been spine-chillingly callous.
They are sobering evidence of the brutalisation of attitudes that abortion virtually on demand has brought in its wake.
So if independent counselling would reduce this toll, who could possibly object? Only the pro-abortion zealots, whose visceral hostility to faith-based counselling is based on the fact that this changes some women’s minds.
This is no more than opposition to thinking independently. To put it another way, to the pro-abortion lobby, if a woman decides against having an abortion after counselling, she has been brainwashed, but if she decides to go ahead with it she has reached her own decision.
Now we can see the vacuity of the pro-abortion slogan: ‘A woman’s right to choose.’ From the reaction to the Dorries-Field amendment, a woman only has the right to choose counselling that is pro-abortion.
Compromise: Louise Mensch has put forward proposals suggesting women should be able to receive support from faith based charities and abortion clinics.
Having said that, it does seem unnecessarily divisive to prevent abortion clinics from themselves offering counselling. Surely women should be able to access counselling from both faith-based charities and abortion clinics, as another compromise amendment by the Tory MP Louise Mensch is suggesting.
This would seem to allow various folk to climb down from their respective trees. After all, Downing Street said the Prime Minister supported providing women with more counselling about their pregnancies, but didn’t want to shut down what was provided by Marie Stopes and the BPAS.
Nevertheless, the Government has refused to back even the Mensch compromise. By way of explanation, the Department of Health came up with a prize bit of obfuscatory waffle about there being no need to define independent counselling.
This makes little sense. The real reason is surely that this Conservative Prime Minister is running so scared of the ‘nasty party’ tag that no compromise with the Left is possible.
But what is nice about thinking there is nothing wrong with 200,000 abortions a year? What is nice about wanting to prevent pregnant women from accessing different types of counselling? What is nice about demonising people in order to shut down debate?
Surely this is what is really nasty. The country is crying out for leadership to stand up to this kind of bullying and intimidation. The Prime Minister should get up off his knees and support women’s genuine right to choose.
Sunday, 4 September 2011
Health Ministers Vow A United Front Against Plans To Tighten Up Abortion Laws
Health ministers promised yesterday to vote en masse against Commons moves to tighten up Britain’s abortion laws.
Backbenchers are seeking an amendment that would change the law to stop charities carrying out abortions, such as Marie Stopes and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, from offering advice to women considering a termination.
In a letter to Tory MPs last night, public health minister Anne Milton said she and ministerial colleagues would not support the change.
David Cameron said that the was sympathetic to the proposals on abortion made by Nadine Dorries and other MPs, but he would not in favour of them.
She said she had no evidence that organisations such as the BPAS were causing ‘any harm to women’, despite claims from pro-life groups that the charities are biased because they earn money from terminations.
And she said she did not want to create an extra ‘hurdle’ for women seeking an abortion.
Mrs Milton reiterated that the Government would put forward proposals this year to ensure women had access to independent counselling.
The Health Bill amendment, to be tabled by Tory Nadine Dorries and supported by Labour’s Frank Field, aroused fears that faith groups opposed to abortion on moral grounds would start to offer counselling.
Offering advice: Charity Marie Stopes, based in central London, is against the backbench proposals.
David Cameron has already signalled that he will vote against it.
Mrs Milton said in her letter: ‘We are very sympathetic to the aim of ensuring that all women requesting abortion are offered impartial, informative counselling.
‘However, on the issue of preventing abortion services from offering counselling, we disagree with the amendment.
‘What matters is the quality and independence of view of the advice given. Counsellors should stick to the facts, not promote a particular view, and most importantly help to support women to make their own decision.
‘It is important to be clear that the Government’s position neither represents a criticism of existing counselling services, nor hopes to create an extra hurdle for women to pass before successfully requesting an abortion.
‘We have no evidence that existing abortion counselling services are causing any harm to women.
‘If pressed to a vote, my ministerial colleagues in the Department of Health and I will vote against the amendments. This is because the amendments exclude existing abortion services from offering counselling.’
Tory backbencher Louise Mensch has said she will also put down an amendment, saying women should be offered counselling by independent organisations that are neither abortion providers nor faith groups.
A source at the Department of Health said that although ministers had not yet seen the text of this amendment, they were likely to vote against it because they did not see the need for legislation defining independent counselling.
Backbenchers are seeking an amendment that would change the law to stop charities carrying out abortions, such as Marie Stopes and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, from offering advice to women considering a termination.
In a letter to Tory MPs last night, public health minister Anne Milton said she and ministerial colleagues would not support the change.
David Cameron said that the was sympathetic to the proposals on abortion made by Nadine Dorries and other MPs, but he would not in favour of them.
She said she had no evidence that organisations such as the BPAS were causing ‘any harm to women’, despite claims from pro-life groups that the charities are biased because they earn money from terminations.
And she said she did not want to create an extra ‘hurdle’ for women seeking an abortion.
Mrs Milton reiterated that the Government would put forward proposals this year to ensure women had access to independent counselling.
The Health Bill amendment, to be tabled by Tory Nadine Dorries and supported by Labour’s Frank Field, aroused fears that faith groups opposed to abortion on moral grounds would start to offer counselling.
Offering advice: Charity Marie Stopes, based in central London, is against the backbench proposals.
David Cameron has already signalled that he will vote against it.
Mrs Milton said in her letter: ‘We are very sympathetic to the aim of ensuring that all women requesting abortion are offered impartial, informative counselling.
‘However, on the issue of preventing abortion services from offering counselling, we disagree with the amendment.
‘What matters is the quality and independence of view of the advice given. Counsellors should stick to the facts, not promote a particular view, and most importantly help to support women to make their own decision.
‘It is important to be clear that the Government’s position neither represents a criticism of existing counselling services, nor hopes to create an extra hurdle for women to pass before successfully requesting an abortion.
‘We have no evidence that existing abortion counselling services are causing any harm to women.
‘If pressed to a vote, my ministerial colleagues in the Department of Health and I will vote against the amendments. This is because the amendments exclude existing abortion services from offering counselling.’
Tory backbencher Louise Mensch has said she will also put down an amendment, saying women should be offered counselling by independent organisations that are neither abortion providers nor faith groups.
A source at the Department of Health said that although ministers had not yet seen the text of this amendment, they were likely to vote against it because they did not see the need for legislation defining independent counselling.
Saturday, 20 August 2011
Killed For Refusing To Let Her Girl Wed
Turk boyfriend butchers British mum and her pal.
Two Brit women were slaughtered by a Turkish waiter - after one refused to let him marry her daughter, it emerged last night.
Sweethearts ... Recep Celik with teen Shannon Graham.
Holidaymakers Marion Graham and Kathy Dinsmore, both in their 50s, were taken to a forest where the maniac stabbed them and slit their throats.
Marion's daughter Shannon, 15 - with whom he had been having a relationship - raised the alarm after the pair vanished from the family's holiday home in the popular Turkish resort of Kusadasi.
Horror ... cops move body.
Local waiter Recep Celik, 17, led police to the butchered bodies after confessing to killing the women. He said Marion had told him her daughter was too young to wed.
Both victims were from Newry in Northern Ireland.
They were travelling on Irish passports - and last night traumatised Shannon was being cared for by an Irish Embassy official.
Shannon had gone on a boat trip when the waiter offered to take the women on a jaunt to meet his dad.
Victims ... Kathy Dinsmore, left, and Marion Graham.
He used his dad's car to drive them 75 miles to a forest near the port city of Izmir - and stabbed them to death. Cops found bloodstained clothing in a bin.
Heartless Celik had returned to work at a restaurant in Kusadasi after the killings - but colleagues noticed him acting oddly.
One said: "Recep was really different when he returned.
"For a while he sat silently near the wall. Then he put something in a bag."
Quantcast
The waiter's father and a taxi driver are also understood to have been arrested.
Yesterday shocked relatives of Kathy gathered at the Co Down home of her brother George, who was described as "devastated". A nephew said: "She was a lovely woman. It's just hard to believe that something like this would happen to her."
Marion's "shocked" ex-partner Ray McGuinness - Shannon's dad - was set to fly to Turkey today. He said he suspected "there was always something that was not quite right" about his daughter's relationship with the Turk.
The slaying comes 14 years after Marion's pregnant half-sister Belinda was shot dead at her home in Newry by her ex-boyfriend.
Another sister, Monica, said the family was shattered.
She said: "We've just found out. My mother's in the car crying her eyes out."
Two Brit women were slaughtered by a Turkish waiter - after one refused to let him marry her daughter, it emerged last night.
Sweethearts ... Recep Celik with teen Shannon Graham.
Holidaymakers Marion Graham and Kathy Dinsmore, both in their 50s, were taken to a forest where the maniac stabbed them and slit their throats.
Marion's daughter Shannon, 15 - with whom he had been having a relationship - raised the alarm after the pair vanished from the family's holiday home in the popular Turkish resort of Kusadasi.
Horror ... cops move body.
Local waiter Recep Celik, 17, led police to the butchered bodies after confessing to killing the women. He said Marion had told him her daughter was too young to wed.
Both victims were from Newry in Northern Ireland.
They were travelling on Irish passports - and last night traumatised Shannon was being cared for by an Irish Embassy official.
Shannon had gone on a boat trip when the waiter offered to take the women on a jaunt to meet his dad.
Victims ... Kathy Dinsmore, left, and Marion Graham.
He used his dad's car to drive them 75 miles to a forest near the port city of Izmir - and stabbed them to death. Cops found bloodstained clothing in a bin.
Heartless Celik had returned to work at a restaurant in Kusadasi after the killings - but colleagues noticed him acting oddly.
One said: "Recep was really different when he returned.
"For a while he sat silently near the wall. Then he put something in a bag."
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The waiter's father and a taxi driver are also understood to have been arrested.
Yesterday shocked relatives of Kathy gathered at the Co Down home of her brother George, who was described as "devastated". A nephew said: "She was a lovely woman. It's just hard to believe that something like this would happen to her."
Marion's "shocked" ex-partner Ray McGuinness - Shannon's dad - was set to fly to Turkey today. He said he suspected "there was always something that was not quite right" about his daughter's relationship with the Turk.
The slaying comes 14 years after Marion's pregnant half-sister Belinda was shot dead at her home in Newry by her ex-boyfriend.
Another sister, Monica, said the family was shattered.
She said: "We've just found out. My mother's in the car crying her eyes out."
UK Women Butchered In Turkey
Two UK women butchered in Turkey were lured to their deaths with the promise of a shopping trip in a bustling city.
Kathy Dinsmore and Marion Graham, both 54, were stabbed by 17-year-old waiter Recep Cetin who was furious Marion had refused to allow him to marry her schoolgirl daughter Shannon.
He cut their throats and dumped their bodies in a forest. The killer is said to have picked up the pair in a taxi from their villa in the resort of Kusadasi and taken them to his father’s home in the city of Izmir 60 miles away.
It is claimed he then drove them in his dad’s car on what they thought was going to be a shopping spree. But instead he took them to the nearby forest and murdered them.
Cetin is said to have snapped after Marion refused his pleas to wed her 15-year-old daughter and return to the UK to live with them. He had been dating the youngster for two years and repeatedly asked her to marry him.
Tributes last night flooded in for Kathy and Marion, who had been sharing a rented home in the Korulkent housing development at Ladies Beach with Shannon and Cetin.
Neighbour Brian Hyland said: “Marion was a lovely pleasant woman and this is just horrendous news. She seemed like a real gentle soul who kept to herself.
“Everyone around here is totally shocked to hear what happened.
“Ask anybody who knows Marion, they would say this is the last thing on earth they ever thought would happen to her.” But another neighbour claimed furious arguments and shouting were often heard coming from the house.
The resident added: “They were different. They weren’t like the rest of us. There was a lot of fighting in the house, a lot of shouting, a lot of noise.
“He seemed quite volatile. It’s a quiet residential area normally.”
Another neighbour said: “To be honest we kept clear of the boy as he was loud, aggressive and very intimidating.”
Shannon was on a day-long boating trip at Kusadasi when her mum and Kathy were stabbed to death. She raised the alarm when they failed to return home on Thursday. At the same time Cetin arrived for work at a Kusadasi restaurant in a distressed state with a cut to his hand. He claimed he had suffered the injury trying to fight off kidnappers who bundled the two women into a van. They had not been reported missing from their extended holiday at this stage.
Cetin initially denied having anything to do with the women’s disappearance when quizzed by police.
But a search of his home found blood-stained clothing and when confronted with the evidence he is said to have admitted butchering the pair.
His dad and the taxi driver were quizzed but it is believed they are not connected to the horrific killings. Kathy and Marion were regular visitors to Kusadasi. Cetin’s uncle Ali Cetin claimed the teenager was angry because the pair would drink booze and flirt with Turkish men.
But both women are said to have objected to the way he treated Shannon and were trying to protect her. It is believed she fell in with a bad crowd during her summer trip and was suffering abuse at the hands of her boyfriend.
He is alleged to have hatched his plot to kill the pair after Marion again stood in his way when he asked Shannon to marry him, despite the legal age to wed in Turkey being 17.
Kathy and best friend Marion are from Newry, Co Down, in Northern Ireland.
Sources say Marion spent her summers in Turkey where she was married to a Kurdish man. The estate manager at the housing complex confirmed Cetin rented a house on the site earlier this summer and was living there with Shannon, Marion and Kathy.
The girl’s dad Raymond McGuinness, Marion’s ex, last night told how he was never in favour of his daughter’s relationship. He said: “There was always something that was not quite right.”
BUBBLY
Devastated friends flocked to Facebook to speak of their shock at the murders.
Mickey Brady posted: “This is terrible news. Such tragedy should never be visited on a family. To think two families from this area will be plunged into such despair and sadness is terrible.
“I believe I met one of the victims and I can only describe her as a bubbly and friendly individual. I am terribly shocked.” Eileen Morgan Hillen added: “I went to school with one of the women and I agree with Mickey she is bubbly and will be missed terribly.”
Ivy McAleavey wrote: “Our thoughts and prayers are with their families. RIP.
“Also to the daughter of one of the women, please God, give her strength.”
Sinn Fein mayor of Newry and Mourne said: “I believe one of the deceased was a former employee of our council.
“To both families I extend my sincerest sympathies at this time. Any assistance we can offer will be given.”
South Down Member of the Legislative Assembly, Karen McDevitt, said people have been left stunned by the news.
She added: “I have a child of 15 and my heart goes out to Shannon thinking of her over in Turkey having to cope with all this. It’s unbelievable to think this has happened. The whole community is totally in shock.
“My thought and prayers are with all the families affected.”
Newry and Armagh MLA Danny Kennedy said: “I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to the families at this awful time. I offer any support and assistance which they may require.”
SDLP Crotlieve Councillor Connaire McGreevy added: “For two families to deal with news of their loved ones being murdered is extremely difficult. My deepest sympathy goes out to them and to the young daughter of one of the victims that has been left behind in Turkey on her own.
“The shock within the community here in Newry and Mourne is widespread and everyone has their thoughts and prayers with the families.”
DUP MLA Jim Wells also expressed his sadness over the murders. He said: “I’ve been on holidays to this area and it’s relatively peaceful and safe. This makes it even more tragic.
“Marrying a girl with a European passport is like winning the lottery to some of these guys. They see it as an escape from sometimes abject poverty. While some of these relationships are certainly genuine I still think women should be cautious about these kind of romances where marriage is on the cards very quickly.”
Irish diplomats are liaising with the devastated families of both women.
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin said: “We are providing consular assistance to the families of the two women, particularly the daughter, through the embassy in Ankara. Members of the family are en route to Turkey.”
Kathy and Marion were both travelling on Irish passports. More than 100 Irish residents live at the housing complex in Kusadasi where the pair had been staying before tragedy struck.
Kathy Dinsmore and Marion Graham, both 54, were stabbed by 17-year-old waiter Recep Cetin who was furious Marion had refused to allow him to marry her schoolgirl daughter Shannon.
He cut their throats and dumped their bodies in a forest. The killer is said to have picked up the pair in a taxi from their villa in the resort of Kusadasi and taken them to his father’s home in the city of Izmir 60 miles away.
It is claimed he then drove them in his dad’s car on what they thought was going to be a shopping spree. But instead he took them to the nearby forest and murdered them.
Cetin is said to have snapped after Marion refused his pleas to wed her 15-year-old daughter and return to the UK to live with them. He had been dating the youngster for two years and repeatedly asked her to marry him.
Tributes last night flooded in for Kathy and Marion, who had been sharing a rented home in the Korulkent housing development at Ladies Beach with Shannon and Cetin.
Neighbour Brian Hyland said: “Marion was a lovely pleasant woman and this is just horrendous news. She seemed like a real gentle soul who kept to herself.
“Everyone around here is totally shocked to hear what happened.
“Ask anybody who knows Marion, they would say this is the last thing on earth they ever thought would happen to her.” But another neighbour claimed furious arguments and shouting were often heard coming from the house.
The resident added: “They were different. They weren’t like the rest of us. There was a lot of fighting in the house, a lot of shouting, a lot of noise.
“He seemed quite volatile. It’s a quiet residential area normally.”
Another neighbour said: “To be honest we kept clear of the boy as he was loud, aggressive and very intimidating.”
Shannon was on a day-long boating trip at Kusadasi when her mum and Kathy were stabbed to death. She raised the alarm when they failed to return home on Thursday. At the same time Cetin arrived for work at a Kusadasi restaurant in a distressed state with a cut to his hand. He claimed he had suffered the injury trying to fight off kidnappers who bundled the two women into a van. They had not been reported missing from their extended holiday at this stage.
Cetin initially denied having anything to do with the women’s disappearance when quizzed by police.
But a search of his home found blood-stained clothing and when confronted with the evidence he is said to have admitted butchering the pair.
His dad and the taxi driver were quizzed but it is believed they are not connected to the horrific killings. Kathy and Marion were regular visitors to Kusadasi. Cetin’s uncle Ali Cetin claimed the teenager was angry because the pair would drink booze and flirt with Turkish men.
But both women are said to have objected to the way he treated Shannon and were trying to protect her. It is believed she fell in with a bad crowd during her summer trip and was suffering abuse at the hands of her boyfriend.
He is alleged to have hatched his plot to kill the pair after Marion again stood in his way when he asked Shannon to marry him, despite the legal age to wed in Turkey being 17.
Kathy and best friend Marion are from Newry, Co Down, in Northern Ireland.
Sources say Marion spent her summers in Turkey where she was married to a Kurdish man. The estate manager at the housing complex confirmed Cetin rented a house on the site earlier this summer and was living there with Shannon, Marion and Kathy.
The girl’s dad Raymond McGuinness, Marion’s ex, last night told how he was never in favour of his daughter’s relationship. He said: “There was always something that was not quite right.”
BUBBLY
Devastated friends flocked to Facebook to speak of their shock at the murders.
Mickey Brady posted: “This is terrible news. Such tragedy should never be visited on a family. To think two families from this area will be plunged into such despair and sadness is terrible.
“I believe I met one of the victims and I can only describe her as a bubbly and friendly individual. I am terribly shocked.” Eileen Morgan Hillen added: “I went to school with one of the women and I agree with Mickey she is bubbly and will be missed terribly.”
Ivy McAleavey wrote: “Our thoughts and prayers are with their families. RIP.
“Also to the daughter of one of the women, please God, give her strength.”
Sinn Fein mayor of Newry and Mourne said: “I believe one of the deceased was a former employee of our council.
“To both families I extend my sincerest sympathies at this time. Any assistance we can offer will be given.”
South Down Member of the Legislative Assembly, Karen McDevitt, said people have been left stunned by the news.
She added: “I have a child of 15 and my heart goes out to Shannon thinking of her over in Turkey having to cope with all this. It’s unbelievable to think this has happened. The whole community is totally in shock.
“My thought and prayers are with all the families affected.”
Newry and Armagh MLA Danny Kennedy said: “I would like to extend my deepest sympathies to the families at this awful time. I offer any support and assistance which they may require.”
SDLP Crotlieve Councillor Connaire McGreevy added: “For two families to deal with news of their loved ones being murdered is extremely difficult. My deepest sympathy goes out to them and to the young daughter of one of the victims that has been left behind in Turkey on her own.
“The shock within the community here in Newry and Mourne is widespread and everyone has their thoughts and prayers with the families.”
DUP MLA Jim Wells also expressed his sadness over the murders. He said: “I’ve been on holidays to this area and it’s relatively peaceful and safe. This makes it even more tragic.
“Marrying a girl with a European passport is like winning the lottery to some of these guys. They see it as an escape from sometimes abject poverty. While some of these relationships are certainly genuine I still think women should be cautious about these kind of romances where marriage is on the cards very quickly.”
Irish diplomats are liaising with the devastated families of both women.
A spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Dublin said: “We are providing consular assistance to the families of the two women, particularly the daughter, through the embassy in Ankara. Members of the family are en route to Turkey.”
Kathy and Marion were both travelling on Irish passports. More than 100 Irish residents live at the housing complex in Kusadasi where the pair had been staying before tragedy struck.
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