Nick Clegg to vote against abortion counselling law

So reports The Guardian:

Nick Clegg is on Wednesday planning to vote against a cross-party amendment, tabled by socially conservative MPs, that would strip abortion providers of their counselling role.

In the most high-profile parliamentary debate on abortion since the general election, the deputy prime minister will lead a series of Liberal Democrat and Tory ministers into the no lobby. They will be joined by most Labour MPs in voting against the amendment tabled by Nadine Dorries, a Tory backbencher, and Frank Field, Labour’s former welfare reform minister…

A rival amendment, tabled by the Lib Dem MP Julian Huppert, has also been accepted for debate. This would prevent any organisation from offering counselling unless it followed “current evidence-based guidance produced by a professional medical organisation specified by the secretary of state”.

Huppert said: “My amendment effectively supports the status quo. It says that all advice should be based on the medical evidence that we have.”

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