Doctors will not have to report it to the police if a woman needs treatment after using abortion pills obtained illegally.

The safeguard was added to the Abortion Reform Bill when the draft legislation returned to the House of Keys for further scrutiny this morning (Tuesday).

Lawrie Hooper (LibVannin, Ramsey) tabled an amendment to the bill to ensure that there was nothing to oblige a practitioner or pharmacist to report the matter to the police if a woman, who obtained abortion pills - or any other abortion service - illegally, subsequently sought medical treatment.

The original bill made it illegal to sell abortion pills over the internet or to provide services in any situation not covered by the proposed legislation. But it exempted the pregnant woman from prosecution.

Mr Hooper said his amendment became necessary because that the exemption had been removed by an earlier amendment, approved during a previous sitting.

’My concern with this is, whatever we put in place, however we draft this, there will inevitably be people who feel they cannot access [abortion] services legally, for whatever reason,’ said Mr Hooper.

He said a woman could be in an abusive relationship, or facing cultural pressure, which could make her feel that obtaining pills illegally was the better option.

Consequently, if they feared prosecution, it could prevent them from seeking medical help after the event, even in an emergency.

’If something goes wrong, they have to feel safe, that they can go to a doctor, they can go to accident and emergency, and feel 100 per cent safe that they can get medical treatment without being reported to the police.’

Members approved Mr Hooper’s amendment.

MHKs also agreed some changes to the draft bill to cover the rules protecting any health staff who had a conscientious objection to abortions and for a new clause to cover what happens after a termination procedure.

The proposed introduction of ’access zones’ - that would protect patients and health workers from being harassed by protestors outside clinics - was debated further. Despite some changes made already, further alterations are expected to be made before that debate resumes after Easter.

The clauses stage of the bill will continue at the next sitting of the House of Keys on April 17, when an attempt is expected to be made to remove ’social well-being’ from the bill’s definition of health, along with bids to introduce new definitions of ’serious impairment’ and ’serious social grounds’, to apply to the already approved provision for when abortions can take place in the 15-24 week period and emergency late abortions.

Abortion on request in the first 14 weeks of a pregnancy has already been approved.