TI1E pro-life MP Anne Widdecomhe got four minutes of debating time on her Abortion (Amendment) Bill before it was relegated to the end of a queue of private members' bills.
Miss Widdecumbe, Conservative MP for Maidstone, said that she had reintroduced David Alton's original Abortion (Amendment) Bill because "in the interests of democracy . . . it should have an opportunity to he voted upon". In the event her bill came seventh in a private member's ballot that guarantees the first six bills for debate. Anne Widdecombe therefore had to wait for the termination of debate on Mr Lawrence Cunliffe's Citizen's Compensation Bill which left her just four minutes to state her case.
Miss Widdecombe said that even though many may not share her uncompromising stand against abortion, they should at least take note of the excesses and abuses of the present law. She also said that her bill wants to protect women from the "ghastly eugenic" pressure of society which forces them to have abortions they do not want.
With no time left for debate, Anne Widdecombe's bill look up position at the back of a queue of private member's bills to be debated on April 7. One of her bill's sponsors, the pro-life MP Ken Hargreaves, said "Today was our last chance".