Catholic cabinet ministers under pressure over anti-abortion Bill

Catholic MPs, including two cabinet ministers, are under pressure to vote for a Bill to restrict abortion today, raising fears over the encroachment of religion on women's rights.

The sponsor of the backbench Bill, the Tory MP Ann Winterton, said she strongly supported the controversial warning by Cardinal Keith O'Brien, head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, that MPs who backed abortion should question their right to receive communion.

Catholic MPs include Ruth Kelly, the Communities and Local Government Secretary, and John Reid, the Home Secretary. The head of LifeLeague, James Dyson, said the pressure group would "out" Catholic MPs who took communion and abstained on abortion measures.

The Bill would require women seeking an abortion to undergo counselling for the possible mental damage they could suffer, impose a cooling-off period of one week for counselling to take place, and require doctors to state whether the abortion was carried out on physical or mental health grounds.

Mrs Winterton, who is vice-chair of the all-party parliamentary pro-life group, said she was not a Catholic but Cardinal O'Brien's remarks were "bound to be helpful inside the Catholic community".

She added: "I very much welcome personally his statement." Mrs Winterton said Cardinal O'Brien "was perfectly entitled" to send his message to Catholic MPs. "I only wish sometimes other churches would send equally positive messages about many issues including this one."

MPs are being heavily lobbied by pro-choice campaigners to reject the Bill, warning that it marks the start of a long battle to curb abortion.

Supporters of the Bill believe they have momentum on their side for the first time in many years for a change in the abortion laws. Yesterday, supporters of Mrs Winterton's Bill cited the growing numbers of doctors refusing to take part in abortions, concern at the medical advances that now challenge the upper time limit of 24 weeks for abortion, and the growth in numbers of abortions.