Polish women are being told to fly to the UK for a free abortion on the NHS.
A feminist group is promoting adverts which, using the famous MasterCard slogan, proclaim the “relief” at having an NHS abortion is “priceless”.
Ann Widdecombe MP said the advert shows Britain has turned into the abortion capital of Europe.
Posters
The posters show a woman standing in the street with the words “my choice” emblazoned on her body.
Around the poster are slogans in Polish which, translated, read: “Plane ticket to England at special price: £70″, “Accommodation: £56″, “Abortion in a public clinic: £0″.
“Relief after a procedure carried out in decent conditions: priceless.”
Liberal
Conservative MP Miss Widdecombe said: “When the Abortion Act was liberalised I said it would turn Britain into the abortion capital of Europe and that seems to be exactly what’s happened.
“The laws here are far, far too lax.”
Joyce Robins, co-director of Patient Concern, said the NHS did not need the extra burden of giving abortions to foreign women.
Emergency
A Department of Health spokesman explained that there were only “certain exceptions” when non UK-residents could receive free NHS services.
Under EU regulations, as long as Polish women claim their abortion is an “emergency” they do not have to pay.
In Poland a woman can only have an abortion if they have been raped, if the baby is likely to be seriously disabled, or if the mother is risking her life by having the child.
Terminations
Last year figures showed the UK has the highest number of abortions in the whole of Europe.
Over 200,000 terminations took place in the UK in 2007, according to figures from the Institute for Family Policies.
In November last year it emerged that the director of an abortion clinic in the USA had quit her job after watching ultrasound pictures of an abortion taking place.
Abby Johnson, 29, stopped working at the Planned Parenthood centre in Bryan, Texas, and joined a pro-life group that regularly holds prayer vigils outside the centre.
