Britain will become the "abortion capital of the world" in the next decade, according to prolife campaigners.
They say our termination rate is already higher than any other western European country.
If the current trend continues, Britain is on course to overtake the U.S. and Australia as the place where the greatest proportion of pregnancies are terminated.
Nadine Dorries MP is leading calls for a cut in the upper time limit for so-called "social" abortions from 24 weeks to 20.
She said this would stop 2,500 terminations a year taking place.
"We have reached the point where we need to pull back on abortion," she said.
"If we don't there is no question that we will overtake America in the next couple of years, making us the abortion capital of the world."
Mrs Dorries plans to table an amendment to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill in the Commons this month.
Her campaign to cut the upper limit from 24 to 20 weeks is said to have the support of 200 MPs.
However, it will only be able to overturn the law if at least 200 others abstain.
In England and Wales, there were 193,700 abortions last year - a rate of 18.3 per 1,000 women aged 15 to 44. In the U.S., the rate has been falling steadily for almost three decades, and it now stands at 19.4 per 1,000 women.
In France the figure is 14.5, in Germany it is 7.2 and Italy 9.1 - all lower than the UK.
The only other major Western country with a higher abortion rate than Britain is Australia - but, like the U.S., the level there is currently declining.
However, there are high rates of abortion in former Communist countries such as Ukraine.
Peter Saunders, of the Christian Medical Fellowship, said there had been an "awakening of the public conscience over abortion" in the U.S.
"By contrast in the UK we have embraced ever more tightly the same tired formula of values-free sex education, condoms and more abortion services," he added. Continue reading---
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