UK legislators reject curb on abortion advice

(AP) -- Britain's House of Commons has rejected a proposal to bar abortion providers from counseling women about their decisions on whether to terminate their pregnancies.

The amendment to a health and social services bill was rejected Wednesday in a 368-118 vote. Conservative legislator Nadine Dorries had proposed the ban, contending that counseling should not be offered by organizations which are paid to perform abortions.

Dorries said she was not attempting to restrict abortion and believed that a woman should have a choice.

The British Pregnancy Advisory Service and Marie Stopes International carry out about half of the 200,000 abortions each year in the U.K., and charge the National Health Service for that. Both are major providers of pre-abortion counseling.

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