The man who wants to lead a sensible debate on abortion

Anti-abortion campaigners are ready to launch a US-style cultural war against the 40-year-old law that allows women in the UK to choose to terminate unwanted pregnancies - with politicians who are also practising Roman Catholics as their first targets.

MPs and other elected representatives who attend Mass but have not taken a hard line against abortion will be targeted by activists who say they should be disowned by the Church.

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The head of the 17,000-strong Life League said yesterday that the organisation will write to every Catholic MP demanding a clear statement that they support the Church's line on abortion and all other "life" issues.

Those who fail to give a satisfactory answer face the prospect of being spied on to see if they are attending Mass.

The campaign has been inspired by yesterday's fiery sermon by the head of the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland, Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who described abortion as an "unspeakable crime" and controversially compared it with the massacre of schoolchildren in Dunblane 12 years ago.

"I urge politicians to have no truck with the evil trade of abortion," he told a congregation at St Mary's Cathedral in Edinburgh, later adding: "We are killing ­ in our country ­ the equivalent of a classroom of kids every single day. Two Dunblane massacres a day in our country going on and on. And when's it going to stop?"

The sermon drew fierce criticism from defenders of abortion rights. And his choice of language echoed the tone of the debate in America, where abortion is a pivotal political issue capable of swinging elections.

But anti-abortion campaigners claimed it as another sign that public opinion is hardening against the UK's relatively liberal laws on abortion, introduced 40 years ago in a private members' bill by the young Liberal MP David Steel.

Last week, a Manchester court sentenced a 22-year-old Asian woman to a year in prison for having an illegal abortion. Earlier, a GP came under pressure to report one of his patients to the police after she had turned up in his surgery having ended an unwanted pregnancy, apparently illegally. The Royal College of Obstetricians has reported that an unprecedented number of doctors in the UK are refusing to be be involved in abortions.

More than a dozen MPs from all three main parties are planning a move next week that would compel women seeking abortions to delay until they have seen a professional counsellor. Although the proposal, put forward by the Tory Ann Winterton, has no immediate prospect of getting on to the statute books, anti-abortionists hope it will be a curtain-raiser for a more serious attempt later in the year to restrict abortion laws.

But the main focus of the anti-abortion lobby is outside Parliament, through street stalls and other forms of direct action.

"There is absolutely no doubt that we are seeing a change in public opinion," James Dyson, the LifeLeague national co-ordinator, claimed yesterday. "People are much more willing to listen to the pro-life case and... the politicians will have to catch up."

The activists' next move will be to use Cardinal O'Brien's comments to force Catholic politicians, such as the Home Secretary John Reid and the Communities Secretary Ruth Kelly, to choose between religion and politics.

"If we see MPs taking communion knowing that they have a pro-abortion voting record, including those who have abstained, we're going to make it public," Mr Dyson said.

His remarks will add to the political storm that broke after Cardinal O'Brien questioned whether Catholic politicians who backed abortion could remain full members of the Church.

"They must consider their own consciences and whether or not they can approach the altar to receive Holy Communion. It's not up to me to judge them, I'll leave that to God to judge them." He added: "It's far beyond time that the present Abortion Act of 40 years ago was re-examined."

His comments were backed up by Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, leader of Catholics in England and Wales. He said: "The Catholic Church believes that every life has been created by God in his own image. This means that all life is sacred. It is for this reason that the Church strongly opposes abortion."

Mrs Winterton insisted yesterday that the Bill she will introduce to the Commons on Tuesday is not about personal morality, but about protecting women's health ­ although she is a lifelong campaigner against abortion.

The Bill would compel women who seek a termination to have counselling first so they can be warned about the risk to their mental health and be made aware of the help available should they decide to have their babies. It is backed by the Labour MPs Jim Dobbin and David Drew, the Liberal Democrat Paul Rowen, and 10 Tories, but has little chance of becoming law without the Government's backing.

Anti-abortionists are planning to seize an opportunity later in the Commons to table amendments to the Government's planned Human Tissue and Embryos Bill, which will give them the first opportunity in 17 years to force a vote on whether to reduce the legal limit on how late a pregnancy can be terminated.

Mrs Winterton said: "There is very positive evidence that some women develop depressive illnesses later in life because of having abortions.We have abortion on demand, and the other side of the argument, or even a balanced case, is not given to these women."

But the Liberal Democrat MP Sandra Gidley, a member of the Commons Health Committee, said: "This is one of the most dreadful ideas I have ever heard. Once a woman has made this decision, which women find very distressing, she doesn't want to be told she has got to go on a waiting list to see a counsellor."

Ann Furedi, of BPAS (formerly the British Pregnancy Advisory Service) said: "There are women who need support and advice, and they get that. We don't need Parliament legislating about how these services are provided."

A contentious history

1803: The Ellenborough Act introduces the death penalty for anyone carrying out an abortion after 16 weeks. The law is later amended to apply to the duration of pregnancy

1929: The Infant Life Preservation Act makes it illegal to abort after 28 weeks except where the woman's life is at risk

1936: The Abortion Law Reform Association forms to fight for the legalisation of abortion. Two years later a doctor is cleared of having performed an illegal abortion on a 14-year-old girl who has been raped, setting a legal precedent

1968: The Abortion Act 1967 comes into effect, making abortion under 28 weeks legal in Britain under medical supervision. Technically, the law provided a legal defence for those carrying out abortions. The Act, still in effect, stipulates that two doctors must certify the abortion first certify an abortion is medically or socially warranted before it can be performed. Medical justifications include prognosis that the child would be born " seriously handicapped". The Act does not extend to Northern Ireland, where abortion is legal only if the mental or physical health of the woman is at "serious risk"

1988: Anti-abortion campaigner Lord Alton tries to reduce the time limit to 18 weeks through a Private Members' Bill. He is backed by 300 MPs but fails to get it through parliament

1990: Two years later anti-abortion campaigners secure a victory of sorts when MPs vote to reduce the time limit to 24 weeks. The Human Fertilisation Act, introduced a year later, bans abortions after this time except where necessary to save the mother's life, protect her from grave physical or mental injury or where there is evidence of evidence of severe foetal abnormality

2004: Ultrasound scans showing a 12-week-old foetus seemingly walking in the womb reignites a fierce debate on reducing the 24-week time limit

2006: Government rejects calls from MPs and the Catholic Church to carry out a parliamentary inquiry into abortion time limits.