Incumbent UK Foreign Secretary and aspirating Prime Minister, Jeremy Hunt, has said that he has ruled out any changes to abortion law if he gets into number 10 Downing Street, despite previously saying that he’d look to legally limit the duration of time within which woman can undergo the procedure.
Mr Hunt has been ridiculed over the past few days for saying that in his "personal view" the time limit within which a woman can have an abortion should be reduced from the current 24 weeks to just 12.
Yet, during an interview with Sky News’ Sophy Ridge, Hunt said that, "these are matters of conscience. Yes, my view hasn’t changed on that."
"I respect the fact other people have very different views and that’s why these are matters for free votes in the House of Commons," he added.
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Asked whether he would seek to change the current abortion law if he was PM, Mr Hunt said "it won’t be government policy to change the law," a point he hammered home at his campaign launch on the morning of Monday, June 10.
Hunt’s comments have evoked anger and condemnation among British MPs, with Liberal Democrat MP Christine Jardine calling the views "incredibly alarming."
"Rather than attacking the women’s rights we already have in some parts of the UK, the Tories should be fighting for them to be equal in Northern Ireland. So far the Tory leadership race has shown how out of touch many of those putting themselves forward are,” Miss Jardine reportedly said.
Labour’s Jess Phillips also made her views clear via Twitter.
— Jess Phillips (@jessphillips) 9 June 2019
Former Tory MP turned independent, Nick Boles, also weighed in with his own perspective on Hunt’s comments specifically, and the Tory leadership race more generally.
— Nick Boles MP (@NickBoles) 9 June 2019
Beyond politicians, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, a charity that is said to support and campaign for woman’s “reproductive rights,” posted a string of Tweets in response to Hunt’s previously expressed views on reducing the time duration within which woman can access abortion services.
— bpas (@bpas1968) 9 June 2019
— bpas (@bpas1968) 9 June 2019
— bpas (@bpas1968) 9 June 2019
— bpas (@bpas1968) 9 June 2019
— bpas (@bpas1968) 9 June 2019
Mr Hunt’s publicly vocal position on abortion - less of a mainstay in British political debate than in the US - has encouraged other contenders for the Tory Party leadership to come out and express their own views.
Former Brexit Secretary, Dominic Raab, who alongside Hunt is one of the 11 candidates in the race, declared at his campaign launch on Monday that the current law on abortion is “broadly right.”
"I wouldn’t change it and I tend to advocate things as a politician that I believe in my private life as well," Mr Raab said.
Incumbent Work and Pensions Secretary, Amber Rudd, who has thrown her support behind Jeremy Hunt to take over from Theresa May as Prime Minister, has reportedly said that she was “reassured” by him that he would not seek to change UK abortion law.
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Talking on BBC Radio’s flagship show the Today Programme, Miss Rudd said, “I have spoken to Jeremy and there will no change to abortion law if and when he becomes prime minister. I feel very strongly about this. We need to make sure that, as a government, we always protect women’s rights to choose.”
As it stands, the 1967 Abortion Act allows woman in England, Scotland and Wales to legally access abortion services under particular conditions, such as if having the child would be deemed a greater psychological and physical strain on the mother than having the child aborted. Moreover, the abortion must be agreed by two doctors and carried out in a UK government-approved health facility. In 1990, the legal time limit for an abortion was reduced from 28 weeks to 24 weeks.
