Three-quarters of women want 24-week limit on abortions reduced, says survey

Abortion: Most women want the limit reduced according to a new survey

The survey, conducted on behalf of the Christian Institute, found that 58 per cent of people thought the upper limit for abortion should be reduced – rising to 73 per cent among women.

Only 3 per cent of both sexes wanted abortion banned but 41 per cent said the time limit should be brought down to 12 weeks, the most common threshold in European countries.

MPs will vote next week on whether to maintain the 24-week upper limit for performing "social" abortions, in the biggest Parliamentary battle on the issue since the threshold was reduced from 28 weeks in 1990.

Pro-life MPs are tabling amendments to the Government's Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill, forcing a vote on a change in the law.

MPs are expected to vote on whether to fix the threshold for "social" terminations at 13, 16, 18, 20 or 22 weeks.

Abortion when a baby is found to be disabled would continue to be allowed right up to birth.

Gordon Brown said yesterday that he will vote to retain the 24-week limit, saying scientific evidence suggested only a tiny number of babies born before then could survive.

But David Cameron and other senior Conservatives are backing a move to reduce the limit to 20 weeks.

Tory MP Nadine Dorries, who is heading the pro-life group, says abortion has become so commonplace that hundreds of women are using it as a form of contraception.

Almost 3,000 abortions were carried out after 20 weeks last year in England and Wales – a 44 per cent increase in a decade.

But pro-choice MPs are seeking to liberalise the law further.

The medical establishment is calling for an end to the rule that two doctors have to give permission for an abortion.

Some MPs agree that nurses should be able to carry out terminations without a doctor's supervision.

Calls to cut the upper limit have been driven by new types of ultrasound scans showing 12-week-old foetuses "walking", "dancing" and sucking their thumbs.

Scans at 20 weeks offered to all mothers-to-be show the development of the foetus with extraordinary clarity and appear to have fuelled a shift in public opinion.

Church of England, Roman Catholic, Jewish and Muslim leaders have all demanded a review.

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, has suggested that the law is being abused to allow abortion on demand.

But the British Pregnancy Advisory Service has urged MPs to stick to the current limit.

The sexual health charity said its study of 32 women who sought abortions between 22 and 24 weeks during a 28-day period this year showed "complex and difficult circumstances" that had delayed their requests.

Those seeking late terminations included young teenagers, women on drug rehabilitation programmes, and mothers with children in care.