The first Parliamentary battle over abortion laws for almost 20 years broke out last night as pro-life campaigners sought to block terminations for babies with minor disabilities.

Peers launched an attempt to change the law to prevent terminations right up to birth if an unborn child is thought to have a range of conditions.

The vote is the first in Parliament on abortion since 1990, when the time limit was reduced from 28 to 24 weeks.

It is the opening salvo in weeks of controversy over the issue.

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In the Commons, MPs plan to mount a concerted attempt at a broader lowering of the legal time limit for all abortions to 20 weeks.

Using the Government's new Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill as a vehicle for a change in the law, they will also try to introduce a week-long period of "informed consent", during which women would be advised to reflect on a request for an abortion.

Pressure has mounted on the Government to review the law amid concern at a rise in the number of terminations. Last year there were 194,000 in England and Wales, up from 176,000 in 2002.

Calls for reform have been driven by new types of ultrasound scans showing 12-week-old foetuses "walking" and "dancing" in the womb.

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

Last night peers were considering an amendment to the law, which currently allows terminations as late as 39 weeks if the unborn child is thought to have a "serious disability".

However, there is no definition of "serious - leading to terminations for having a club foot or a cleft palate.

In one region, the South West, 117 babies with club feet, cleft palates, or webbed or extra fingers and toes were aborted between 2002 and 2005.

Across the country, more than 400 pregnancies a year are terminated because of Down's syndrome.

The Government has asked the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists to set better guidance.

But cross-bench peer Baroness Masham, who is leading the attempt to change the law, said: "Handicapped babies are still being aborted right up to full term, which is just horrific.

"I can think of no greater affront to equal opportunities for those who are disabled than the denial of the right to life itself.

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