An MHK has accused some of her House of Keys colleagues of trying to reduce the Abortion Reform Bill into an ’unworkable shadow’ of what it set out to do.

The accusation came from Daphne Caine (Garff), who said: ’There seems to be an aim to reduce this bill to an unworkable shadow of its original intention.

’We must stay true to the original intention of the bill.’

But Chris Robertshaw (Douglas East) said he was ’astonished’ at the claim.

’She is completely and utterly wrong and I do take exception to this idea that detailed and careful amendments are somehow turning this bill into a shadow of its former self,’ he said.

Tim Baker (Ayre and Michael) who was also against aspects of the bill as it stood, said he ’took exception’ to Mrs Caine’s comments.

Mr Robertshaw made an unsuccessful attempt to remove the bill’s provision for permitting an abortion after 24 weeks where the child would ’suffer a significant impairment which is likely to limit either the length or quality of the child’s life’.

MHKs voted 18-5 against.

However he succeeded in changing the wording of the provision to instead say, ’both the length and quality of the child’s life’, and to replace the word ’significant’ with ’serious’.