Conservative MP Jacob Rees-Mogg has called abortion rights a "cult of death". Speaking at a parliamentary debate on Monday, the MP for North East Somerset also refused to agree that abortion should be sanctioned in the case of victims of rape or incest.
The debate had been called to answer a petition calling for UK abortion rights to be written up into the new UK Bill of Rights. This legislation will replace the Human Rights Act 1998, and enshrining abortion into the Bill would make abortion domestically enforceable.
Following the US Supreme Court's overturning of Roe v Wade, the legislation protecting abortion in the United States, some are concerned about the UK following suit and removing or limiting abortion access for those who need it. However, Mr Rees-Mogg said enshrining the law was not necessary as there was "no majority in parliament" to alter the current Abortion Act 1967.
Read more: Woman still missing almost four months after last sighting
In Mr Rees-Mogg's own constituency, North East Somerset, nearly 250 people signed a petition calling for abortion access to be added to the bill. However, the MP said: "I do not, then, really see what the petitioners are trying to achieve in what they ask for. They want the right to abortion to be particularly protected, but what they are talking about is not a protection: it is protection protectionless, because any subsequent Act of Parliament could automatically change it in whatever way Parliament decided.
"As my right hon. Friend the Member for New Forest West (Sir Desmond Swayne) correctly pointed out, there is no greater protection than something being in an Act of Parliament, and that is already the situation that exists. There is not a majority in Parliament to change that.
"Whether there is a majority in the country at large—we have heard about some opinion polling—who would like to see it changed is another matter, and a matter for debate. However, the law is as solid as it can be from the point of view of those who are in favour of abortion legislation as it is."
When asked by Labour MP for Walthamstow Stella Creasy whether he would "support the right of women to choose to have an abortion were they a victim of rape or incest," Mr Rees-Mogg did not say that he would.
Instead, he said: "I think the destruction of life is wrong. I do not believe that we should say that a new life should be destroyed.
"I do not believe that that is the right of the state. I do not believe we can put it into a Bill of Rights, even if we were the United States and had a Bill of Rights of the same constitutional standing as theirs. The hon. Member for North Antrim is right. He said that Bills of Rights are usually about protecting and preserving and ensuring that people are able to get on with their life.
"This is about destroying life. This is the cult of death. It is the great tragedy of abortion, and it is considered normal.
"The extraordinarily high number of babies that are destroyed is something that should sadden us all to the depths of our souls. The idea that we would protect something that is so wrong and ignores that second life, and that we should say that it is an absolute right on par with free elections, seems to me to be an absolute tragedy.
"I think this petition misfires. I think it is wrong constitutionally and much more wrong morally, because it prefers death to life."
The petition has been signed by over 167,000 people. The results of the parliamentary debate have not yet been published, but are expected to be released within the next few days.
The petition states: "As Parliament considers the Bill of Rights, the Government must reconsider including abortion rights in this Bill. Rights to abortion must be specifically protected in this legislation, especially as the Government has refused to rule out leaving the European Convention on Human Rights.
"In the wake of the United States Supreme Court over-turning 'Roe vs. Wade' in a landmark decision; the United Kingdom must enshrine abortion rights in the new UK Bill of Rights.
"Abortion rights are healthcare rights; not just for individuals who do not wish to be pregnant, but also for those who do. For ectopic pregnancies, to finish a natural miscarriage, or if mother or foetus' life is at high risk. There are a multitude of other reasons to seek an abortion and this should be protected as a right to choose."
Read next:
Harbourside residents feel 'stuck' amid cladding uncertainty
Bristol academy announces primary school closure at end of current term
Bristol and South Gloucestershire men used encrypted messaging to deal drugs on 'commercial scale'
Keynsham care home Charlton House in special measures as resident left 'sitting in a chair of urine'
