A bid to make it compulsory for a woman to undergo counselling ahead of an abortion might be made.

Chief Minister Howard Quayle said he planned to table such an amendment to the Abortion Reform Bill, which started to undergo detailed scrutiny today.

Expert witnesses this morning gave evidence to the House of Keys as the chamber went into ’whole committee’ mode at the start of the clauses stage of Dr Alex Allinson’s bill, which aims to relax the Isle of Man’s restrictive laws.

Mr Quayle revealed he aimed to bring in amendment that would make counselling mandatory for women considering a termination and to require a ’cooling off’ period between that counselling and a decision being made.

There was some confusion as to what Mr Quayle was proposing and how it differed from the draft bill’s provisions for counselling.

Legislative draftsman Howard Connell explained: ’The bill as drafted requires that counselling must be offered.

’The chief minister’s proposed amendment would require the woman to have received counselling and to have received it at least 48 hours before any procedure.’

Retired consultant gynaecologist Bob Fayle, one of the witnesses called today, appeared to express doubt about the merits of Mr Quayle’s proposal.

’By all means, offer counselling, but you cannot force the woman to hear it,’ he said. ’I would say you cannot force anybody to be counselled if they do not wish to be counselled.’

It had always been good practice to allow for a period of reflection after all options were discussed before a final decision was made, he added.

Lord Brennan QC, arrived from the UK this morning to give about his concerns over the bill, particular in protecting the rights of disabled babies.

The first expert to speak was Jasvinder Sanghera, founder of the charity Karma Nirvana, which fights against ’honour-based’ abuse. She said that in some communities that a woman could be forced to have an abortion if she was expected to give birth to a girl and argued that the Abortion Reform Bill did not do enough to prevent that happening.