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Where does the new Lib Dem leader stand on abortion?

22 July 2019: At 5:30pm this evening it was announced that Jo Swinson was elected as the new leader of the Liberal Democrats.

She won 47,997 votes, against a vote of 28,021 for Ed Davey.

Jo Swinson has a track-record of voting pro-abortion apart from where she has abstained and a single vote in 2011 where she voted in support of independent counselling for women seeking an abortion.

On 9 July 2019 she voted in favour of imposing abortion on Northern Ireland.

The Northern Ireland (Executive Formation) Bill returned from the House of Lords with an even more radical abortion amendment. This amendment intends to make abortion legal until the 28th week of pregnancy. Swinson voted in favour of imposing this abortion regime on Northern Ireland.

As a result of the final amendment being passed, if the Northern Irish assembly does not return by the 21st October, abortion on demand, for any reason, up to 28 weeks will be introduced to Northern Ireland.

The proposed changes regarding independent counselling would have stopped private abortion providers from providing abortion counselling. The service would have been instead outsourced to a third party which did not have a vested financial or ideological interest in providing abortions.

Polling shows that there is very strong demand from the public for a range of changes to abortion laws in England, Wales and Scotland that would introduce new safeguards and restrictions to increase protections for the unborn child and support for women in crisis pregnancies.

At the same time, abortion campaigners have made it clear that they want to remove almost all legal safeguards around abortion.

Green squares represent the MP casting a pro-life vote, red represents a pro-abortion vote, yellow is an abstention and grey indicates that the MP was not in office at the time of the vote.

Leadership voting records
  1. Introduce abortion on demand, for any reason, up-to 28 weeks in Northern Ireland. – 09/07/2019
  2. Attempt to introduce abortion on demand, for any reason, up-to 28 weeks to Northern Ireland. 10/07/2019
  3. Amendment to put pressure on the Government to change abortion legislation in Northern Ireland – 24/10/2018.
  4. Introduce abortion on demand, for any reason, up-to 24-weeks in Northern Ireland. Remove many of the current legal safeguards around abortion provision in England and Wales – 23/10/2018.
  5. Introduce abortion on demand, for any reason, up-to-birth (‘Decriminalisation’) – 13/03/2017.
  6. Explicit ban on sex-selective abortion – 23/02/2015.
  7. Independent abortion counselling – 07/09/2011.
  8. Better information and counselling for parents facing a disability diagnosis in pregnancy – 20/05/2008.
  9. Reduce abortion limit to 12 weeks – 20/05/2008.
  10. Reduce abortion limit to 16 weeks – 20/05/2008.
  11. Reduce abortion limit to 20 weeks – 20/05/2008.
  12. Reduce abortion limit to 22 weeks – 20/05/2008.
  13. Counselling and 7-day cooling off period – 05/06/2007.
  14. Parental notification for girls 15 and under seeking an abortion – 14/03/2007.

Sir Ed Davey

Jo Swinson

Dear reader,

You may be surprised to learn that our 24-week abortion time limit is out of line with the majority of European Union countries, where the most common time limit for abortion on demand or on broad social grounds is 12 weeks gestation.

The latest guidance from the British Association of Perinatal Medicine enables doctors to intervene to save premature babies from 22 weeks. The latest research indicates that a significant number of babies born at 22 weeks gestation can survive outside the womb, and this number increases with proactive perinatal care.

This leaves a real contradiction in British law. In one room of a hospital, doctors could be working to save a baby born alive at 23 weeks whilst, in another room of that same hospital, a doctor could perform an abortion that would end the life of a baby at the same age.

The majority of the British population support reducing the time limit. Polling has shown that 70% of British women favour a reduction in the time limit from 24 weeks to 20 weeks or below.

Please click the button below to sign the petition to the Prime Minister, asking him to do everything in his power to reduce the abortion time limit.