Like many observers, I was deeply shocked and saddened by the passing of an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill in the House of Commons last month that means it becomes legal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason up to and during birth. The fact that this radical proposal passed with so little scrutiny and a hefty majority was even more troubling. Even before this vote, we had some of the most permissive abortion laws in Europe.
When I was an MP, I very much considered myself to be a pro-life MP. My voting record on life issues attests to this. However, I also understand these are sensitive and complex issues, and during my time in Parliament, I encountered a wide range of deeply held views and positions on them.
I was very animated about the decision that Parliament took to make the “pills by post” service, introduced as a “temporary” measure during COVID, permanent. I and several Conservative colleagues predicted the problems that such a scheme would create, and sadly, our concerns have been vindicated.
I think it is important that we ask ourselves the question, How have we ended up with some of the most extreme and barbaric abortion laws in the Western world?
There are many reasons, but one of them, I think, is because people have been cowed. Too many people in politics and the media have essentially rolled over and not been prepared to challenge the creep towards ever more extreme abortion laws. I know this to be true because that is exactly how I felt when I was an MP. While my voting record on life issues was solid, I did not speak about life issues in Parliament as much as I should have. Speaking about abortion was not perceived as the done thing, and men in particular were made to feel that we could have no voice on these sorts of issues.
The extreme activists behind the abortion-up-to-birth law are guilty of strategic overreach
For a long time, at least within the halls of Westminster, there was something resembling a settled consensus around the 24-week abortion time limit. In some respects, it was a consensus that no one was happy with, and perhaps it was never going to hold in the long-term. As medical technology continues to improve, the proportion of babies born at or before 24 weeks who then survive outside of the womb continues to grow.
However, the reality is that any settled “consensus” there may have been around the 24-week limit has now been blown apart. Through the introduction of the “pills by post” scheme, and now the decriminalisation of DIY abortion up to birth, the terrain has been changed dramatically by the abortion lobby itself.
So what next? In the short term, certainly for the next few years, assuming this amendment by Tonia Antoniazzi becomes law, there will likely be many more horrific cases of viable babies being aborted not long before they were due to be born. There will likely be horror stories involving vulnerable women being coerced into late-term abortions that potentially put their lives at risk.
For some reason, people have been cowed into feeling that these extreme policies are popular with the public. Recent polling shows this could not be further from the truth. According to polling by Whitestone Insight, just 3 per cent of women support abortion up to birth and two-thirds of women support the return of a requirement for in-person appointments before home abortions can take place.
In terms of “what next?”, it is vital that pro-life voices become more vocal. And yes, that includes men. On this, there have been some signs of encouragement. Ahead of the debate and vote on Tonia Antoniazzi’s extreme abortion decriminalisation amendment, there was very little pick-up in the media. This partly explains why many commentators felt that the whole thing had come from nowhere. What we did see, though, in the days following the vote was quite a shocked reaction. Albeit late in the day, many people, including those who are usually pro-choice, found their voice and were prepared to make clear statements condemning the outcome of the Commons vote on 17 June.
For small-c conservatives, the events of 17 June made it very clear that we cannot rely on Labour or Liberal Democrat MPs to restore common sense to this debate. Of Labour MPs, 291 voted for the amendment and just 25 voted against. Of Liberal Democrat MPs, 63 voted in favour and just 2 voted against. The Conservative Party offered a ray of hope in contrast and was far more united on a life-related issue than it has been for a long time. All in all, only 4 Conservative MPs supported the amendment. This was followed by the Conservative Leader imposing a two-line whip afterwards against the whole Bill at Third Reading and releasing a clearly-worded statement opposing the decriminalisation proposal.
For both the Conservative Party and Reform, however, there is a need to go further. Both parties should commit in their next manifestos to scrapping these extreme abortion laws. This is not only a moral imperative, but would also be a vote winner! Yes, this would be a move away from abortion always being an issue of conscience. But conscience votes need to have limits, and no genuine conservative should support the possibility of abortion up to birth. Moreover, when it came to the decisive vote on making the “pills by post” service permanent in the last Parliament, there was effectively a Labour whipping operation in motion.
On a more optimistic note, if there were one prediction I would make regarding this subject, it would be that the debate on abortion in this country will now be forever changed. The reaction to the vote on 17 June has demonstrated this. I believe that the extreme activists behind the abortion-up-to-birth amendment are guilty of a strategic overreach, and although they may have won this battle, they have not won the war, and may come to regret overplaying their hand.
