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UPDATED: Where do the Tory leadership candidates stand on abortion and assisted suicide?

With Boris Johnson announcing that he will be officially resigning as Conservative leader, a number of Tories have declared or are expected to soon declare that they will be putting their name forward as candidates in the leadership contest that will take place over the summer. This leadership contest will decide the new leader of the Conservatives and the UK’s next Prime Minister.

The contest will take place in two stages. The first stage (shortlisting) involves a series of votes by currently sitting MPs that will decide on the top two candidates. The second stage then involves these two candidates going onto a final vote where the membership of the Conservative party will decide on the winner.

Right To Life UK has put together the following voting record outline that details the voting records across 19 individual votes on abortion and assisted suicide for each of the current or likely leadership candidates. These records come from the Where Do They Stand database – you can view voting records for other MPs on the platform here. This table will be updated as more candidates put their names forward.

The United Kingdom is about to enter a very important period for the abortion issue. There is currently a renewed push from the abortion lobby to make extreme changes to abortion legislation in England and Wales.

Polling shows Conservative grassroots want pro-life changes to abortion legislation

Given the significant amount of coverage around the US Supreme Court’s decision on abortion, ‘pro-choice’ media outlets and journalists may attempt to run ‘hit pieces’ highlighting the position of leadership candidates who have a strong pro-life voting record on life issues. 

While these articles may gain traction with some socially liberal Labour voters, if the intention of running these pieces is to endanger the chance of a candidate with a pro-life voting record winning the leadership challenge, this could have a chance of backfiring, as the Conservative Party membership is more socially conservative than the general population and likely to be attracted to candidates who have a strong pro-life voting record on life issues. 

Polling from Savanta ComRes shows that among the population who states that they intend to vote Conservative, there is strong support for a number of changes to abortion legislation. 91% agree that gender-selective abortion should be explicitly banned by the law, 79% oppose taxpayer money going to fund abortions overseas and 73% agree that parental or guardian consent should be required for girls aged 15 or under to undergo an abortion. Support for these pro-life changes to abortion legislation is higher among this part of the population than in the general population.

Similarly, another poll from Savanta ComRes showed that two-thirds of Tory councillors (67%) support abortion remaining a devolved matter for Northern Ireland and believe that it should be up to politicians in Northern Ireland to decide whether or not to change the law on abortion in Northern Ireland. 

Both polls are likely to be an accurate proxy of voter sentiment on life issues among the grassroots Conservatives who will ultimately decide the new leader of the Conservatives and the country’s next Prime Minister. 

Beyond Grassroots Conservatives, polling shows the general public is also supportive of a number of changes to abortion legislation. For example, 60% of the general population and 70% of women believe that the current 24-week gestational limit for abortion should be reduced. A full outline of the changes to abortion legislation that the public support is available here.

Full data for each leadership candidate

Links to the full voting record profile for each of the candidates on the Where Do They Stand platform is provided below the following chart. This has been included as it may be difficult to read the details of each of the votes on the chart as a large amount of content has been outlined in a small area. A description of each of these votes can be clearly read on the Where Do They Stand platform.

A running tally of the MPs who are backing each of the candidates is available here.

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

Voting record – Current leadership candidates

Leadership voting table 1 7

Voting record – MPs who were expected to stand but confirmed they are not OR are no longer standing as leadership candidates

Leadership voting table 2 12
  1. Motion to approve regulations to give the Northern Ireland secretary further powers to impose the commissioning of abortion services on Northern Ireland – 22/06/2022.
  2. Amendment to make ‘DIY’ home abortions permanently available in England – 30/03/2022.
  3. Motion to approve regulations to give the Northern Ireland secretary new powers to impose the commissioning of abortion services on Northern Ireland – 27/04/2021.
  4. Introduce censorship zones around abortion clinics that make it a criminal offence to offer support or pray – 24/06/2020.
  5. Motion to approve regulations to impose abortion legislation on Northern Ireland – including introducing abortion up to birth for Down’s syndrome, cleft lip and club foot – 17/06/2020.
  6. Amendment to impose law change on Northern Ireland to introduce abortion – 09/07/2019
  7. Amendment to put pressure on the Government to change abortion legislation in Northern Ireland – 24/10/2018.
  8. 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.
  9. Introduce abortion on demand, for any reason, up-to-birth (‘Decriminalisation’) – 13/03/2017.
  10. Legalise assisted suicide – 11/9/2015 
  11. Explicit ban on sex-selective abortion – 23/02/2015.
  12. Independent abortion counselling – 07/09/2011.
  13. Reduce abortion limit to 22 weeks – 20/05/2008.
  14. Reduce abortion limit to 20 weeks – 20/05/2008.
  15. Reduce abortion limit to 16 weeks – 20/05/2008.
  16. Reduce abortion limit to 12 weeks – 20/05/2008.
  17. Better information and counselling for parents facing a disability diagnosis in pregnancy – 20/05/2008.
  18. Counselling and 7-day cooling-off period – 05/06/2007.
  19. Parental notification for girls 15 and under seeking an abortion – 14/03/2007.

Full voting record data for each candidate from the Where Do They Stand platform

Kemi BadenochMichael GoveDominic RaabBen Wallace
Steve BakerJeremy HuntGrant ShappsNadhim Zahawi
Suella BravermanSajid JavidRishi Sunak
Robert BucklandPenny MordauntLiz Truss
Rehman ChishtiPriti PatelTom Tugendhat

Critical appealto protect vulnerable lives

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

The Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill can still be defeated at Third Reading, but only with your help.

Dear reader,

As you already likely know, the Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill sadly passed Second Reading at the end of last month.

While it is very disappointing that the Bill passed Second Reading, an analysis published in The Independent shows that at least 36 MPs who supported the Bill did so only to allow further debate or because they had concerns that meant they won’t commit to supporting the Bill at Third Reading. Since then, our Public Affairs team has identified a number of other MPs who share these reservations.

With the vote passing by a margin of 55, just 28 MPs switching their stance to oppose the Bill would ensure it is defeated at Third Reading, so there is a clear path towards this Bill being defeated. We can still win this.

The assisted suicide lobby are fully aware that support for the Bill is very fragile. They will fight fiercely to prevent 28 MPs from switching their votes to oppose the Bill.

For the sake of the hundreds of thousands of vulnerable lives that will be put at risk, we must win the vote and defeat this dangerous Bill.

WE NEED YOUR HELP

Our campaign in the run-up to Second Reading was the biggest and most expensive we have ever run and so it has made a significant dent in our limited financial resources.

We are now working on an even bigger campaign to defeat this dangerous Bill at Third Reading.

To ensure we effectively defeat this extreme assisted suicide Bill, we are aiming to raise at least £100,000 by midnight this Sunday (15 December 2024).

Every donation, no matter the size, will mean YOU can make a crucial difference in saving vulnerable lives from this extreme law change.

Will you make a donation now to help protect vulnerable lives from this major threat?

Critical appealto protect vulnerable lives

Help stop three major anti-life threats.

The Leadbeater assisted suicide Bill can still be defeated at Third Reading, but only with your help.