There has been much chatter regarding David Cameron’s happiness index. Ok, I understand why people think it’s an easy one to knock and by any measure, it certainly is. However, it is a worthy question to ask and analyse because, should we be presented with conclusive evidence with regard to what does make us happy, maybe those who are perpetually miserable will be able to re appraise whatever it they choose to pursue and that in itself could be a life enhancing experience.

If you ask anyone the happiness question, you do receive a multitude of varying answers. Love is right in the middle of most. The happiest people appear to be those with a capacity to love well.

However, love comes in many guises and if not the overall obvious harbinger of all happiness, may be in some way the root cause.

Take the taxi driver I met today whose wife is suffering from breast cancer. He manages to make ends meet each month, but that is all. He and his wife couldn’t afford a holiday last year and he will very definitely have to work until he is at least seventy as he has no pension.

When I tipped my taxi driver today, he gave me a pink ribbon.” I hope you don’t mind love” he said, “only, I don’t keep the tips, I give them to breast cancer research. If you really want to know, nothing makes me happier. I get excited each time I get near a hundred as I hands my donations over in £100 lots – nothing makes you feel as good as that”. He then thanked me for the work I did. Told me he admired brave MPs who didn’t take the silvery shilling and stood up for the bigger issues”.

He made me feel very humble indeed.

How many of us are as good as that man? How many of us are as happy as he obviously is, despite the fact he has so little?

If the project tells us that a very clear route to happiness is helping others, then it will have been well worth it.

UPDATE:  We have had an email asking us to link to the Pink Ribbon web site. Apologies from Nadine, links are not easy to do from a Blackberry
http://bit.ly/gIR9wd

I have an article on ConservativeHome today 

http://tinyurl.com/35lapt6

I would just like to pay tribute to Sue and her staff in Ampthill library; they are a fantastic team who keep me supplied with one cup of tea after another during a surgery. Not only that, they are incredibly sensitive and can also be a really practical help when required which includes, always having a box of tissues which land right on the desk, seconds before I have to ask for them.

I sometimes shake my head and laugh at how different a Friday in the constituency can be to a Monday to Thursday in Westminster.

This week was my home visit week which means that after the surgery, we visit those people who we consider too elderly to ask to travel, or those who are disabled or poorly. This week, that also included a visit to a slightly different home in Barton, hence the sheep and wellies.

Friday night was Patrons club party night and so, in the space of a day, it’s suits and heels to waterproof and wellies to pearls and lipstick.

Thank you Paula and Andrew for giving up your lovely home last night and to everyone who came.

The Spectator party last night.  http://bit.ly/cPQyzM

I did the Jeremy Vine show today http://tinyurl.com/36qk84q and I discussed the possibility of Sarah Palin becoming president with Hazel Blears. (1hr 34 minutes in)

Wether we like it or not, the eyes of every politician across the world will be watching what happens over the next two years. Will the American people, or wont they, grant Obama a second term? Who will secure the Republican nomination? We already know the Democrats. 

In order to defend the USA and the world, America needs a strong economy. I believe that will be Plain’s strength as she will campaign for smaller, smarter Government, lower taxes and a fertile environment for business to grow. She acknowledges that high levels of public spending have contributed to the existing predicament the American economy is in. That will then give America the capability to invest in defence which will be to the benefit of us all.

Obama's dramatic drop of the Eastern missile defence  project and his humiliating collapse under pressure from Russia, indicates how weak Obama is on security and defence and provides Sarah Palin with the perfect opportunity to showcase her own position.

Sarah Palin, realises that the biggest threat to Western security and the free world is a nuclear ready Iran. She has the bravery to acknowledge this whilst Obama capitulates in face of Russia, who continue to negotiate with Iran and other rouge nations.

Obama has no stomach for success in Iraq or Afghanistan. The world would be a safer place if we saw Iraq and Afghanistan through to the end because both America and the UK need to remain credible and honour our commitment to both countries. We also need to ensure that valuable lives have not been lost in vain and Sarah Palin recognises this. I am not sure Obama does.

 Palin is a toughie. She has passion, charm, drive and ability along with a huge, massive connectivity to the American people. She continues to demonstrate her willingness to tackle tough domestic and international issues, in doing so she presents herself as a serious 2012 contender who is not willing to be defined by the liberal media.

I believe that if Palin quickly puts together a strong team of policy advisers, she could well be the Republican candidate. However, I worry.
She is also a Mom. She has a family, she is obviously a hands on Mom who adores her family. The pressure will be immense. Does she have the emotional capacity and the strength to combine both roles, especially with an adorable little boy who has his own needs?
I am sure that is the question she is asking herself right now. I don't believe she has yet fully decided, but Sarah, you need to, because you need that policy team in place right now.

Yesterday I met with Fire-fighters from Bedfordshire. I have met with the Fire-fighters every year as they have been very angry about the last Governments proposals to regionalise the Fire fighting service.

I have always supported the Fire-fighters and they come to Westminster on a regular basis. The proposals never made sense to me. If there is a fire you need an engine and men there as quickly as possible. Fire fighting is about saving lives and the issue regarding the continued support for the service, from my perspective, is a moral one.

The chaps and lady (Claire I think) were very reasonable. They understood that cuts had to be made, however, they - just like Eric Pickles - believe those cuts could be made without affecting front line services and should wherever possible come from the back room support staff.

Back room support staff don’t save lives. A press release doesn’t put out a fire. A secretary cannot man a hose.

They were particularly angry regarding an advert in this week’s paper for a member of PR staff with a salary of over £30,000(http://www.bedsfire.com/CareersandRecruitment/NonOpStaff/Pages/PubRelOff.aspx). Many of their back room staff earn between 30 to £100,000 per year.

I have done what I need to do at my end today and have the support of my fellow Bedfordshire MPs and colleagues.

My message to the Fire service is this – recruit that PR clerk and commit to a £30,000 a year salary at your peril. We need to retain fire-fighters, not recruit another schmooze expert to woo the media and make management look good.

Town bands are like buses. You wait for years and then two come along at once.

On Saturday night, I had a fantastic evening with the Toddington Town Band. The highlight of the evening for me was when I got to conduct the band in the second half. I learnt the whole four beats to the bar; figure of eight waving the baton in the air wrist movement, what I didn’t know though, was how to stop the band. At the end of the tune, all the band members kept the last note going and going and going...

They then all pretended, about thirty five of them to be slipping off their chairs as they continued to hold, with their last gasps an ever weakening, thinning and warbling tune, as I panicked squealing “what, what?” at the front!

 One kind saxophonist, with watery eyes bulging, indicated to me to hold and stop waving the baton. The whole stage and the audience erupted into laughter. It was a total set up. I haven’t laughed so much in ages.

Thank you all for making me so welcome. It was a pleasure to open the auction of promises which I am sure was a huge success as you were all such lovely people. You are the big society in action! I had no idea big band music was so beautiful, it really is.

Sunday morning was obviously a much more serious affair.  The Royal British Legion in Shefford organise a tremendous parade and every local community group plays a part as hundreds turn out, whatever the weather.

The Shefford Town Band played beautifully. The service runs with military precision as you would expect given the involvement of the Chicksands base. The army cadets stand for an hour and a half guarding the four corners of the War Memorial and barely move. John, the Rector from St Michael’s church, finishes his prayer exactly two seconds before the bell chimes eleven times and the bugler plays the last post.

Steve, the Baptist preacher gave the reading and the parade began. The Major and I have to stand straight faced as the little four year old Rainbows lay their wreaths. Although the Captain, who has just returned from nine months in Afghanistan, did admit, that at that point he found it very difficult to suppress his smile as they were just so cute.

And then we all went to the White Hart which lay on food and everyone came together for a social drink and warm up.

And that is what it is all about. A whole town coming together to pay honour to its past inhabitants, who gave their lives in order that we could live ours, without fear and in freedom.

There are too many RBL members for me to thank, however, a special thank you has to go to Ken Pollard.

The big society in action!

Further information regarding the reasons why we need informed consent.
We can no longer continue to harm women by witholding the facts. They have a right to know and a right to choose.
http://www.lifenews.com/2010/11/12/opi-1006/

At some time over this weekend, I am going to write a blog about something which is so fundamentally simple, so glaringly obvious, that I am searching for a reason as to why it isn't done as a standard routine post delivery test on new borns.

The simplest 30 second, almost zero cost test would save thousands of babies lives who are born with congenital heart defects. As with most things in this job, it takes one case to open the door on a whole new world of problems and issues you didn't know existed, until someone sits down and tells you their story.

And here is the proof that executive members of the NUS fully endorse what happened yesterday

http://order-order.com/

The NUS informed the Police that there would be 5000 students attending the demonstration yesterday. They upgraded that to 15,000 on Tuesday night. The final figure was possibly as much as twice that number.

The students arrived from all over the country, many in NUS organised coaches.

There are many eye witness accounts of NUS officials being right in the middle of the mêlée which ensued.

Many of the students who attended were visibly shaken at what was unfolding before their eyes.

The staff working in the offices at Milbank were terrified.

Someone threw an extinguisher off the roof which easily, so easily, could have killed someone.

Sir Paul Stephenson, has been incredibly professional in the way he has come out this morning and taken the hit on the chin.

Many of us MPs don’t believe that is right. Westminster was swarming last night with literally hundreds of Police officers. If Sir Paul had known the correct number of students attending, maybe he could have had enough Police in place quickly enough.

It appears that the President of the NUS, Aaron Porter, did not brief him adequately. The NUS organised a demonstration which has resulted in people in hospital and students with criminal records, before they have even had time to fill in a job application form.

It was an NUS demonstration. It is not good enough that today they want to distance themselves from what happened with a ‘not me Gov’ statement. They cannot.

It is not good enough that the police are expected to shoulder all of the blame.

Aaron Porter should resign. He was the architect of a dangerous demonstration which could have resulted in the loss of life.

The Police should be congratulated for what they did manage to achieve in the face of adversity.

Everyone has a right to peaceful demonstration. No one has a right to terrify and endanger the lives of others. Aaron Porter was responsible for that. It was an NUS demonstration and therefore they are fully responsible.

Nick Clegg did a great job at PMQs today defending the coalition position on tuition fees. He is excellent when on the offensive. His best moments were when he highlighted Labour's hypocrisy.

It is not a good situation outside Westminster. The question regarding the squatters on Parliament Square has to be addressed once and for all. The majority of the protesters are giving students a bad name. Many are from the groups which are normally camped out on the Square. It's a late night sitting tonight and so we are locked in again for the third night on the trot. You can hear the noise of the protesters all over the Palace.

Today has been full of meetings with a variety constituents who have come down to Parliament to both see PMQs and then to hold various meetings. Mid Bedfordshire is home to a fair number of innovative people who have some great ideas! I wish they could have seen Westminster at it's best, however, apart from taking ages to actually get inside the building, they didn't seem to mind.

Don't forge if you live in Mid Beds and you have a free hour to go along to Marston Forest Centre and object to the IPC  online registration process.

Make the point that...you are being asked to submit your objection based on draft policy guidelines and that you think it more appropriate to wait for those guidelines to be adopted, in order that you are objecting on the basis of the correct information'.

Easy peasy! They are there from 4-6 and thank you to everyone who went along to Stewartby.

I have written to the Secretary of State and a long list of Ministers the following letter in terms of stopping the COVANTA / IPC online registration process in it's tracks. The letter is very self explanatory and details all the reasons why I believe the process should be stopped.

 

 I am writing to ask you to halt, as a matter of urgency, the IPC registration process which is in place for the residents of Mid Bedfordshire to register their intent to object to the proposal by COVANTA to build a Wembley stadium sized incinerator in the midst of our constituency.

I would also like to request that your department carry out a full and detailed investigation in the way this process has operated to date and to pay particular attention to the un democratic format and process which excluded many of my constituents from being able to participate.

I would like to present you with a number of examples in order to explain why I have reached the conclusion that this would be an appropriate decision to take;

In their instructions for registering, the IPC have stated that:

 "Please set out the principal submissions which you propose to make at the examination stage. We require a brief summary of the representations you wish to make. You should be aware that further representations and any submissions at a hearing MUST only relate to the issues you raise in this representation form. Relevant Representations will allow the Examining authority to determine the most appropriate method of Examining the application; a timetable will be issued after the preliminary meeting."

The registration period ends on 19th November. There are at least two problems in complying with IPC's requirement:

1. The application documentation runs to over 7,400 pages it is inconceivable that people most of whom don't have access to professional advice, can digest this amount of material within the 42 days allowed by IPC to identify all of the issues of concern. It is impractical for many to view all of it online or to spend the extended hours needed to read it at the small number of locations where it is being made available. Covanta are charging £1,800 for a hard copy which for many people is totally unaffordable. I do not know if the information is being made available to those who need it in Braille or audio formats.

2. Revised Draft National Policy Statements for Energy have now been published by the government for consultation with a consultation period running until 24 January 2011. There can be no certainty over what changes will be made to the draft statements as a result of the consultation process and whether these would give rise to further issues that representors would want to raise but will be time barred by IPC from doing so.

It is fair to assume that if the draft policy statements are amended that the IPC consultation period may be challenged and would need to be re run as objections would have been made on historic information which would no longer be applicable.

3. Many constituents are complaining that the form is long, difficult to understand and complete. It asks questions which are entirely un related to the issue of an incinerator and asks for many personal details. The format alone would put many people off who simply would like to register their intention to object but do not have the time to a) read 7,400 pages and then complete a complex questionnaire.

4. These residents who are, largely retired or not in work and have had the time to both read the document and navigate the form have been dismayed to discover that they have received 20 days later, an email to inform them that they have missed out a field on the form and that their submission cannot be accepted.

As I am sure you are aware, it is very easy to miss a particular field when completing an online form, however, to wait 20 days to have this fact highlighted to the objector is outrageous.

Anyone completing their form today would receive their email requesting to re submit after the 19^th of November which is when the cut off date has passed.

I can list many similar problems. Would you please, as a matter of urgency, stop this process now as the un democratic, exclusive manner in which the registration process is being conducted in no way has any  bearing on the esteem within which this coalition Government regards local communities and the local democratic process.

This process has almost definitely been designed and approved by the previous Government. The intention to obfuscate and confuse in order to isolate local people as far away as possible from the decision making process is absolutely transparent and a well know hallmark of the previous administration which placed no trust local communities and Governed from the top down.

The coalition has to deliver better than this to local people and therefore I urge you, as a matter of utmost priority to halt this process today whilst your officials investigate, or at the very least, extend the process until a suitable date following the adoption of the amended draft policy guidelines.

There appears to be some doubt re constituent or political candidate..

This blog by Katharine Birbalsingh who lost her teaching job at an academy for speaking out against the way many children are educated in our schools, is bang on the money.
http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/katharinebirbalsingh/100062663/the-left-think-people-on-the-right-are-twisted-and-mean-–-even-if-they-spend-their-lives-helping-the-poor/
Those on the right are quieter. We do get on with the job and pursue both the intellectual and moral high ground. The habit of forming school ground gangs and yelling abuse and insults is absolutely a prerogative of the left.

For example, David Allen Green wrote a blog in last week’s New Statesman which was verbally aggressive and accused me personally of attacking a constituent via my own blog. He failed to mention that in an email from Kerry McCarthy MP, to Glen Owen, at the Mail on Sunday, said constituent was described as 'the local Labour party organiser' by Kerry and that on the local Labour party web site, she was also described as having been selected as a candidate. On the same web site (which the local Labour party have now removed, but we have the screen shot) she described herself as the web organiser for the Labour party in Bedfordshire.
Not quite the same thing as attacking a constituent is it?

And so to Katherine's blog, I would like to add another uniting, unique attribute on the left. They lie.

David Allen Green won a blogging award last year. For deliberately making such misleading statements on his blog, maybe he should consider handing it back?

The film of the whole debate. Love my loyal colleauges, who on the night of the tube strike stayed to support me. I include the Labour chaps in that too.

http://tinyurl.com/2uv57gq

I have just found this..

http://westminsterjournal.com/content/view/252/1/

Following my debate the other evening to introduce informed consent and the subsequent final statement from the Minister which was;

Having in place informed consent, appropriate counselling and the right support for women at this vulnerable time will ensure that we do not fail them for the future.

The sharks are already circling.

The purpose of the debate was to keep very firmly away from the ideological positions of pro-choice and pro-life. I made a point in the debate of stating that in the process of establishing informed consent, women should be given information which is, clear, accurate, void of political ideology and provides options underpinned by a network of support. I stated that both pro-choice and pro-life campaigners should have input and be in agreement. My debate was pro-women.

I very clearly state that one of those options should be adoption and how that can be achieved and how women can be supported through. I make no apology for this. There are many fantastic people who have been through the adoption process, who would have been aborted had their birth mother been pregnant today.

I mentioned in the speech the charity ‘Forsaken’. I didn’t say registered charity. I would imagine it is too new to have reached those dizzy heights. It is a pro- women charity, not pro-choice or pro-life.

Already, Forsaken have had the infamous Bloggerheads, Tim Ireland, on the phone this morning. Probing, asking questions about their status, amking the usual inappropriate comments etc. Usual Tim Ireland, agressive ‘I have a right to know all about you’ style.

I am an elected member Tim. You harass me on an almost daily basis, including my staff and my Chairman. I am expected, even though you aren’t one of my constituents, to take it. I am expected to tolerate your inappropriate level of intense attention, as were the MPs you harassed before me.

Members of the public are not.

If you put into place your usual method of operation of continuous telephone calls, blogging, blitz emailing thousands of ranting words etc to people going about their daily business, I am sure the Police may take a strong view.

You have been warned. I will not tolerate anyone else being subjected to your intense, inappropriate, abusive behaviour, simply because they have some, even the most distant, association to me.

 

Especially good people, who are simply trying to help others.

Well done to Labour MP and fellow member of the Health Select Committee, Valerie Vaz, for raising the case of Sakineh Mohammadi Ashtiani in the chamber today. Valerie has done this on at least one other occasion to my knowledge.
Below is a report lifted straight from the Sky News web site.
The fact that Iran has suspended the stoning and is considering hanging instead is supposed to make us all heave a collected sigh of relief.

No fair trial, accused of something she reportedly hasn't done , already served a prolonged period of time in prison and has been handed a punishment which amounts to nothing more than barbarism. And all because she is a woman.

The following days and weeks will be a huge test to the influence international opinion can bring to bear on Iran. It will be seen as a victory for diplomacy if Ashtiani is hanged and not stoned for something she hasn't done.

And yet we still stand by and watch as Iran becomes more nuclear ready on a day by day basis.

 

Nadine Dorries (Mid Bedfordshire, Conservative)

Although the abortion figures for last year were slightly reduced by 3.2%, there were still 200,000 abortions carried out in the UK last year-572 per day. Abortion in this country is an industry from which a small number of organisations and individuals make vast amounts of money. No sensible person would condone this. In examining the legislative abortion procedures of European countries with far lower numbers than ours, it occurred to me that for those countries in which informed consent before an abortion takes place is enshrined in law-Germany, France, Belgium, Finland and others-the abortion rate was much lower. I have deliberately excluded countries with religious and cultural influences, such as Italy, Spain and Portugal from that analysis. It also appears to me that in those countries, the abortion procedure is a far kinder one, which takes much more account of the vulnerable position a woman might be in at the time of her request for an abortion and provides her with alternatives to consider and a cooling-down time in order to think, breathe and take stock of what is happening.

All those countries with good informed consent legislation had significantly lower than average daily abortion rates than the countries that do not have such informed consent legislation. Although a causal link is impossible to prove, these figures suggest that informed consent legislation might prove a good way of reducing Britain's abortion figures. I think that all Members of all parties are agreed that we want to see that happen.

In this country, if a woman requests a termination from her GP, no questions are asked. I have spoken to numerous GPs and posed this question to them: "When a woman sits in your surgery and asks for a termination, what do you say?" The answer I frequently receive is that the GP does not say anything, but writes a referral letter. That is the process at the GP stage. A referral is made to a hospital or clinic and the abortion is performed, for the woman's sake, as quickly as possible and without fuss.

Minimal counselling or no counselling is provided in some NHS hospitals and some clinics. Minimal counselling is provided by BPAS-the British Pregnancy Advisory Service-which carries out a large number of abortions on behalf of the NHS.

However, BPAS carries out some counselling, but also carries out the abortion, so there is a clear conflict of interest there.

 

Andrew Selous (South West Bedfordshire, Conservative)

I understand that the counselling provided by abortion providers is Government funded only if the abortion goes ahead. Does my hon. Friend share my concern about that?

 

Nadine Dorries (Mid Bedfordshire, Conservative)

I am going to come to that very point a little later in my speech. It is one of the main concerns, mainly because no alternative counselling is provided to negate that option.

We all know that when it comes to abortion, the law is indeed an ass. It has no application whatever. We know that the law prohibits social termination-two doctors' signatures are required-but none of that is ever taken into account. Abortion clinics freely admit that consent forms pile up in their offices, waiting for the second signature, long after the event has taken place.

A woman has an assumed right to choose. However, she apparently has no right whatever to any information on which to make that choice. If any of us were referred to a hospital today for a minor procedure such as an operation for an in-growing toenail, the procedure would be explained to us in detail. We would be made aware of the level of pain we might experience; we would be told exactly what would happen while we were under the anaesthetic; we would be given follow-up appointments to check on the progress of our healing; we would have our dressings changed and have checks for infection. A woman who has an abortion has none of that.

At the end of the day, the woman is discharged out on to the street and left to come to terms with the rollercoaster emotional journey of which she will still be in the midst. Before the woman received the procedure, she might have felt coerced, pressurised or bullied into the abortion. To her, it might have been a life or the beginning of a life-depending on her perspective. She might have had a seed of doubt, but once she was on the conveyor belt to the clinic, she might have felt helpless and unable to step off.

Make no mistake: abortion is not a medical procedure. It is not an in-growing toenail. Abortion is about the ending of a life, or a potential life. It is about a death which is final, and from which there is no going back. The abortion of a baby does not abort the seed of doubt or misgivings that may have been present at the time; that still remains.

Many consultant psychiatrists from the Royal College of Psychiatrists are becoming increasingly concerned about the number of women who are presenting with mental health issues directly linked to previous abortions. A major longitudinal 30-year survey published in The British Journal of Psychiatry in 2008 showed clearly-after adjustment for confounding variables-that women who had had abortions had rates of mental disorder 30% higher than women who had not. The Royal College of Psychiatrists said that, following its position statement on abortion and mental health,

Nothing remotely like that happens. No consideration whatsoever is taken of the state of a mother's mental health when she asks for an abortion. If she asks for an abortion, she is given one.

Given the disregard that we have for women seeking this procedure, I am surprised that that figure stands at only 30%. We push vulnerable women through a clinical procedure at great speed to end a life-or, as I said, a potential life-that is growing within them, and we wonder why only 30% have problems in later life. Those are the women who are diagnosed. They are the women who seek help, and whom we know about. We do not know about the others. Is it not time that we started to treat women a little better than this?

Daniel Kawczynski (Shrewsbury and Atcham, Conservative)

I am very pleased that my hon. Friend has raised the issue of the rights of women in this context, but what about the fathers? I hope she agrees with me that the law needs to be examined to ensure that the rights of the potential father are taken into consideration.

Nadine Dorries (Mid Bedfordshire, Conservative)

I thank my hon. Friend for his contribution, but I am afraid that I must stick to the point of the debate, because otherwise we shall run out of time.

Does not the way in which abortions are carried out in this country today almost amount to abuse? We need to take lessons from our European neighbours. In Germany, women are offered counselling and a cooling-off period. That gives them a chance to breathe and think. It gives them support. They are informed about the procedure, and of the possible consequences. They are provided with alternative routes other than the surgical removal of a life. They are given information about adoption-and yes, I know that people throw up their hands in horror when that is mentioned, but it is not our pregnancy, and it is not our baby.

We have no right to institutionalise and frame a decision-making process that is void of choice for the women who seek information. It is a woman's right to choose, and women should have the right to be given every shred of information that we have and every alternative option. If a woman wants to continue with her pregnancy and deliver her baby for adoption, she should have the right to choose to do so. If she does not, at least she can emerge from the abortion process feeling that she made an informed decision. She can emerge feeling that she went in empowered and not helpless, strong and not vulnerable, and believing that she did the best thing because she knew exactly what she was doing and had full knowledge of every available option. She will be able to draw strength from that in future.

Women are entitled to an option. They are entitled to give informed consent, which should be explicitly supported by pro-choice and pro-life campaigners. When it comes to a decision of such magnitude, it is vital for women to receive information that is absolutely accurate and is given calmly, without coercion or a principled bias and, in particular, without political ideology. Last month ComRes, the pollsters, revealed after an extensive survey that 89% of people agreed with that. They think that women should be entitled to have more information when requesting an abortion. Given that overwhelmingly high figure, it is time that this House paid some attention. I hope the Minister agrees that it is time that we took a little more care of women undergoing such a procedure. It is time that we introduced a statutory process of informed consent and a cooling-off period. The European evidence shows that that could provide us with a considerable reduction in the number of abortions, and everyone would surely welcome that.

I shall finish by mentioning a book which is to be launched this month. It is published by the charity Forsaken, which is neither pro-life nor pro-choice: it is pro-women. For two years, the charity has put together the stories of women suffering from post-abortion syndrome. Reading the book is so heart-wrenching that we just want to reach out and take their pain away, but we cannot. There is no going back. We cannot make it better; abortion is a procedure to end life-it is final.

The women interviewed for this book feel that talking about abortion is taboo. That forces them into silence, leaving them unable to express their suffering. Abortion really is a taboo subject. We will never see an abortion filmed on television; we will never see that screened. It is still the taboo subject that we do not talk about.

One woman in the book describes how even when she told the anaesthetist that she was changing her mind and was having doubts, he pushed her to go ahead. He did so because, if she changed her mind, he would not have been paid. There is the same process as for the counselling. If the woman does not go ahead with the abortion, the clinics are not paid for the counselling, and therefore they need to know that she is going ahead before she is given the counselling-and we can imagine the process that ensues.

I will conclude by reading a paragraph from the book, giving a young girl's account:

That is a story of loneliness, suffering, emptiness and loss that many thousands of women live with day after day. It is they who become the 30%.

It is time for the UK to catch up with the rest of Europe and introduce informed consent in an attempt to ensure that stories like this become a rare exception. It is time for this country to start looking after our young girls and women at the most vulnerable time in their lives and treat them with some respect.

If you are having problems registering on the IPSA web site, will you please go to

www.mmetag.com

and let them know. We are trying to get a feel as to how big the problem is and how many people are unable to register.

You can also see a copy of the lecture on Saturday and some pics from the day.

Body of PR which has gone out today.

On Tuesday night November 2^nd 2010 Nadine Dorries MP has been successful in calling for an adjournment debate in the House of Commons regarding a woman’s right to informed consent prior to a termination of pregnancy.

The substance of the debate will focus on the ComRes findings which revealed that 89% of people believe women should receive more detailed information before undertaking an abortion.

Nadine will say ‘If you are in hospital for the removal of an in growing toenail you are reassured before the operation. You receive follow up appointments and regular checks to see how you are healing and make sure there is no infection. If you have an abortion you receive nothing. You are not given any counselling regarding the emotional and physical side effect, you are given no time to consider your decision. You are given no information with regard to the alternatives available should you wish to consider them. You have no follow up whatsoever. You are discharged from the hospital as though you have just undergone the most basic, the most unimportant medical procedure. But to some women, that procedure was a the removal of a life, or a potential life and the evidence is that many women are now suffering as a result of that most basic lack of care.

Some women feel as though they have been subjected to institutional abuse.

BPAS, which carries out terminations on behalf of the Government and does provide basic pre abortion counselling, is the same organisation which is paid to carry out the termination. A gross conflict of interest.”