UK: Tory MPs’ abortion opinions

A significant number of Conservative candidates in winnable seats hold strong anti-abortion views, the Financial Times reports.

This raises the prospect of a fresh drive to cut the time limit from 24 to 20 weeks should David Cameron win this year’s general election, says the FT.

Senior MPs, shadow cabinet members and party officials believe that if all those required to secure a majority at the next election win their seats, the result would create a big enough bloc of votes to tighten the existing legislation, aided by votes from some anti-abortion Northern Irish, Labour and Liberal Democrat MPs.

One shadow cabinet member said: ‘We will, I am sure, have the votes we need to do it. It’s something lots of us feel very strongly about – including David [Cameron].’

This view is confirmed by surveys of Tory parliamentary candidates by ConservativeHome.com, combined with research by the FT. Abortion is a so-called ‘conscience’ issue on which MPs are free to vote as they wish without being expected to toe a party line.

Tory MPs’ and candidates’ opposition to abortion is not, however, the result of deep religious convictions, the FT reports. Rather, one party adviser described the anti-abortion sentiment within the party as being an aspect of “right-wing political correctness. They think it goes with the package: pro-nuclear power, pro-nuclear weapons, pro-army, pro-life.”

Nadine Dorries, a backbench Conservative MP who led the effort to cut the abortion time limit when the issue was last debated in the Commons in 2008, has announced she intends to put down a bill to amend the existing law. If the Tories were to gain a majority she expected it to enter the statute book.

‘I was always aware that the real opportunity for abortion law reform would arise with a Conservative government,’ she said. ‘I anticipate that if I lay down a private member’s bill to tighten before the House after the election, it will pass.’

But Dr Evan Harris, a prominent pro-choice Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, suggested that the pro-life outlook of some Tory candidates contrasted with the way Mr Cameron was seeking to present his party to the electorate.

‘Conservative candidates’ stance on the rights of women to have abortions . . . belies the spin that David Cameron leads a modern and socially liberal party,’ he said. ‘Scientists [with an interest in embryology] and women in Tory target seats need to make sure they know the views of their Conservative candidates.’

Tory candidates reveal anti-abortion views. Financial Times, 12 February 2010

Also read:

UK Abortion Law section, Abortion Review.