PARLIAMENTARY EARLY DAY MOTION
FREE CONTRACEPTION (28 November 1997)

That this House belives that free contraception should continue to be available on demand in the United Kingdom so that women and men can continue to plan their families and promote reproductive health; notes that free availability of contraception since 1974 has played a vital part in allowing women to regulate their fertility but that the rate of unplanned pregnancy, and consequently abortion, is still high; suggests that Her Majesty's Government should seek ways of enabling people to use methods of family planning more effectively and should reject in principle any changes, such as the introduction of a charge for prescribed methods of family planning, which might discourage the use of such methods; believes that the introduction of charges for these methods would fall disproportionately on women, as they are the users of prescribed methods, and would create an anomalous situation where a woman could obtain NHS services such as ante-natal care, maternity care and abortion procedures free of cost but not contraceptives; and believes that this would lead to an increase in the number of unplanned and unwanted pregnancies.

Sponsored by:
Mr Martyn Jones (Labour)