Yesterday, Conservative MP Nadine Dorries posted a press release on her blog, claiming that the British Association of Counselling and Psychotherapy (BACP) backed the amendment that she and Frank Field MP have put forward.

The amendment calls for ‘independent’ abortion counselling for women who want an abortion, with the aim of excluding respected organisations such as BPAS and others, and is tacked to the contentious Health and Social Care Bill.

She wrote:

The British Association of Counsellors and Pyschotherapists (BACP) which has 32,000 individual and organisational members has declared its support for women to receive independent pre and post abortion counselling and has backed our amendment to the HSCB (Health and Social Care Bill). The following press release has been issued

The same press release has also been published at Dorries’s ‘Right To Know‘ campaign website.

So blogger Tim Ireland took the liberty of contacting the BACP press office with a couple of questions which aimed to clarify the organisation’s exact position on the contents of Dorries’ press release and on her proposed amendments.

Tim put the following questions to BACP:

Can you please confirm the accuracy of this quote on the site of Nadine Dorries (in bold) and point me in the direction of the source document? I cannot find a corresponding press release on your site.

Also, what is your position on CareConfidential’s non-disclosure of their anti-abortion position? They claim on their website to offer “unbiased pregnancy and abortion counselling”.

And this is the ful text of the response supplied by Phillip Hodson on behalf of BACP [my emphasis]:

Dear Tim,

1. In response to an enquiry, BACP issued a statement saying it believes counselling should be an independent accountable and ethical process free from ideological bias and manipulation. This is in accordance with our Ethical Framework which gives a paramount place to the needs and values of clients.

2. Our statement in its entirety reads as follows:

“BACP believes that all women (and their partners if required) considering terminating a pregnancy should be offered free, independent, unbiased and ethical abortion counselling at any point, supplied by trained counsellors. Counselling can help women (and their partners if required), reflect on and understand the often complicated feelings surrounding termination, and can aid decision-making. Counselling can also help women come to terms with the psychological consequences of the decisions they make. BACP respects that the laws governing termination of pregnancy in Northern Ireland are laid down in statute and fully understands that counsellors who work in this field in Northern Ireland should pay due regard to the document: Guidance on the Termination of Pregnancy: The Law and Clinical Practice in Northern Ireland”.

3. Since 2002, in accordance with our key message that counselling ought to be part of the nation’s healthcare, BACP has been calling for a better pre- and post-abortion counselling service. See endnote [i].

4. BACP has never suggested or implied that organisations like BPAS and Marie Stopes International should stop providing abortion advice or any of their other ancillary services. Counselling and advice-giving are in any case separate activities – “counsellors never give advice”.

5. BACP has no involvement with the organisation CARE CONFIDENTIAL and we confirm that it is not a member of our Association.

6. BACP is an acronym for THE BRITISH ASSOCIATION FOR COUNSELLING AND PSYCHOTHERAPY and not as stated in Ms Dorries’ press release. We currently have nearly 36,000 members – not 32,000 as stated in Ms Dorries’ press release.

Phillip Hodson

It is entirely clear from Phillip Hodson’s response that…

1. BACP have issued nothing more than a general position statement in response to an enquiry – and Tim is enquiring as to who made that enquiry.

2. That BACP have NOT offered full-throated support for Dorries’s amendment, in fact their statement draws a clear distinction between abortion advice and counselling and states explicitly that:

BACP has never suggested or implied that organisations like BPAS and Marie Stopes International should stop providing abortion advice or any of their other ancillary services.

This goes entirely against the express intent of Dorries’s amendments, which does seek to prevent BPAS and Marie Stopes International providing information and advice relating to abortion.

It does NOT look like the BACP is not giving its full backing to Dorries.

This is not the first occasion like this either. During her ’20 Reasons for 20 Weeks’ campaign in 2008, she claimed that Marie Stopes International was in favour of her proposal to reduce the upper time limit for legal abortions in the UK, prompting the organisation to issue the following statement:

Contrary to assertions on Nadine Dorries’ campaign website Marie Stopes International (MSI) does NOT favour a reduction of the abortion time limit. We hereby reaffirm our continued and unyielding support for 24 weeks and respect for the needs and rights of women to access abortion at later gestation.

Reader comments

1. Liberal Conspiracy

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3. Steve Greer

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6. Nick00031

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8. Saggydaddy

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9. Dr Eoin Clarke

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10. Tim Ireland

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12. David Whewell

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13. David McMillan

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14. Life: Downloaded

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15. Martha Burgess

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16. Ali B

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17. Aaron Chandra

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18. Caroline Entwistle

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21. Judith Flanders

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22. Birmingham Feminists

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23. Lucy Brown

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