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Senior Tory MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has launched a stunning attack on abortion rights in the UK, calling the legal procedure morally wrong and a “death cult”.
The former cabinet minister said it was “wrong” for the state to allow abortions and refused to agree that the right to terminate a pregnancy should be protected even in cases of rape or incest.
MPs and activists reacted with horror to his remarks – calling them “dangerous” and “grotesque”.
Speaking in a Westminster Hall debate on a petition for abortion to be included in the Government’s planned Bill of Rights, Mr Rees-Mogg said the number of abortions was a “modern day tragedy”.
Asked by Labour’s Stella Creasy whether he supported women’s right to choose abortion if they had been the victim of rape or incest, the Tory MP said: “I think destroying life is wrong.”
“I don’t believe we should be saying that new life should be destroyed. I don’t think this is the state’s right,” said the former business secretary.
Mr Rees-Mogg added: “This is about the destruction of life. This is the cult of death. This is the great tragedy of abortion and it is considered normal. The extremely high number of babies destroyed is something that should sadden us all to the depths of our souls.
Ms Creasy later said his views showed why abortion rights needed to be better protected in UK law. “Women deserve equal rights. Whoever is in government,” the senior backbencher tweeted.
“If you think we don’t need to codify in law that women have a human right to choose to have an abortion, Jacob Rees-Mogg has just argued against women who are victims of rape or incest having the right to have an abortion” , added the deputy.
Green MSP Gilliam Mackay said Mr Rees-Mogg’s remarks were “grotesque” and “dangerous”, adding: “Abortion rights are human rights. We cannot allow them to be threatened or undermined by reactionary politicians like Mogg.
Mr Rees-Mogg, a practicing Catholic, has previously attacked “religious bigotry” for his own hard-line stance on abortion – telling the BBC in 2018 that “it would be great if society came to a different view on abortion”. .
But the Tory MP agreed that the right to an abortion in Britain, stemming from the Abortion Act 1967, “will not change”.
The petition, debated by MPs, called on the Government to outline and protect abortion rights in the proposed Bill of Rights. Activists fear an erosion of support for the services after a landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision earlier this year that overturned Roe vs. Wade’ in the US.
Justice Minister Edward Argar said the government believed abortion policy needed to be “fixed [devolved] legislatures’ based on existing laws.
However, the UK government last month announced plans to outsource abortion services in Northern Ireland in a move endorsed by campaigners and termination service providers.
Northern Ireland Minister Chris Heaton-Harris has pledged to ensure services are available following the political deadlock at Stormont over abortion services.
Abortion was banned in almost all circumstances – even rape and incest – with women seeking terminations facing life in prison until the procedure was legalized in Northern Ireland in 2019.
Former health minister Therese Coffey insisted in September that the government “will not seek to repeal” any abortion laws, amid concerns from campaigners about her own “deeply worrying” vote result on the issue.
The practicing Catholic voted to withdraw abortion rights at home, as well as against extending abortion rights to women in Northern Ireland.
Ms Coffey has previously said she would “prefer people not to have abortions, but I’m not going to condemn people who do”.
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