Jacob Rees-Mogg, the leader of the House of Commons and the Conservative MP for North East Somerset, has been accused of spreading a "harmful clinical falsehood" after he called the morning-after pill an "abortifacient".
In the House of Commons today (Thursday, February 3), Rees-Mogg was asked to dedicate time for a debate on access to contraception for women, as the Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson highlighted that some retailers were still charging over the odds for women's contraception.
Rees-Mogg, who as leader of the House is responsible for the Commons' debating timetable, responded curtly by saying: "The right hon. lady cannot expect me to speak in favour of abortifacients." An abortifacient is a term given to any drug that causes an abortion.
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The Press Association reports that Johnson later raised a point of order with the speaker, stating: "The World Health Organisation say that emergency contraception pills prevent pregnancy by prevention or delaying of ovulation and they do no induce an abortion.
"Emergency contraception cannot interrupt an established pregnancy or harm a developing embryo.
"How can I ensure that the Leader of the House corrects the record, as what he said I think is a harmful clinical falsehood and I am sure does not represent the Government’s policy?"
The deputy speaker, Dame Eleanor Laing, responded to Johnson by telling her she could invite Rees-Mogg to correct the record.
She agreed that "it does appear to me that if there is a factual inaccuracy in the matter to which she has just referred, it is rather an important matter and one in which I would judge that anything that is said in this chamber ought to be 100 per cent correct, because it is not a matter on which we should allow people who will be affected by it to be misled, and that the facts ought to be straight".
The World Health Organisation advises that emergency contraception "does not induce an abortion".
It says the morning-after pill "prevents pregnancy by preventing or delaying ovulation", while emergency copper-bearing intrauterine devices (IUDs) "prevents fertilisation by causing a chemical change in sperm and egg before they meet. Emergency contraception cannot interrupt an established pregnancy or harm a developing embryo."
The NHS is also clear that "emergency contraception doesn't cause an abortion".
It is therefore not correct to call the morning-after pill an abortifacient: it is a contraceptive, not an abortifacient.
The writer Rhiannon Cosslett responded on Twitter by questioning why Rees-Mogg should be allowed to legislate on things "he knows very little about".
She said: "Give me strength. Like many anti-choice politicians, [Rees-Mogg] is proving he knows very little about women’s bodies or how they work, so why should he be allowed to legislate them?"
Rees-Mogg has been outspoken on the subject of abortion before - in 2017, he said he was "completely opposed" to it, including in cases of rape or incest.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service said at the time that Rees-Mogg's "extreme" views were "wildly at odds" with public opinion. The then-prime minister, Theresa May, said she did not agree with Rees-Mogg.
The House of Commons interaction in full
Dame Diana Johnson (Labour, Kingston-upon-Hull North): "I am sure that the Leader of the House will be delighted to know that, following a campaign by the women’s parliamentary Labour party, the journalist Rose Stokes and the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, Boots has announced that it is slashing the price of its morning-after pill from £15.99 to £10.99, removing the sexist surcharge that is attached to that medication. It is interesting to note that Superdrug is still charging £13.49, whereas people can get generic emergency contraception for £3.99 on the Chemist4U website. I am raising this because cuts to public health budgets and the fragmentation of the NHS have meant that it is more difficult for women to access contraception advice. May we have a debate about the report of the all-party parliamentary group on sexual and reproductive health in the UK, which made clear recommendations on proper funding and accessibility for women’s contraceptive health services?"
Jacob Rees-Mogg (Conservative, North East Somerset): "The right hon. Lady cannot expect me to speak in favour of abortifacients."
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