‘The fact that anti-abortion MPs and ex-MPs are flocking to Reform is deeply worrying’
Reform UK “is fast becoming the political refuge for anti-abortion hardliners”, a campaign group has warned.
Abortion Rights has highlighted that politicians with anti-abortion views are “flocking to Reform”, and called the trend “deeply worrying”.
For example, last year right-wing US think tank AZ Liberty paid Reform leader Nigel Farage £13,000 to give a speech to abortion “abolitionists”, extreme faith and alt-right groups.
In his speech, he said these groups were “saving western civilisation”.
In May, Farage said “I am pro-choice, but I think it’s ludicrous, utterly ludicrous that we can allow abortion up to 24 weeks”. He is now pushing for a “debate in Parliament” on reducing the time limit on abortion.
A number of other Reform MPs and ex-MPs who have joined Reform have “long records of opposing women’s rights” and “are finding a home in a party that calls itself ‘pro-family’ and proudly embraces anti-choice politics”, Abortion Rights has said.
Danny Kruger, who defected from the Tories to Reform earlier this month, previously argued in Parliament that women do not have “an absolute right to bodily autonomy” when it comes to abortion. He later said his position had been “misunderstood”.
Maria Caulfield, an ex-Tory MP who lost her seat in July 2024, repeatedly voted to restrict abortion access.
Caulfield opposed buffer zones around clinics, voted against at-home early medical abortion, and described abortion providers as “unethical, unsafe, and unprofessional”.
Nadine Dorries, another former Tory, consistently pushed for lower abortion time limits while she was an MP.
Andrea Jenkyns, the Reform mayor of Greater Lincolnshire, voted against measures to ease access to abortion while she was an MP. She has publicly described herself as “pro-life” and has opposed what she calls the “liberalisation” of abortion law.
In 2024, Lee Anderson MP, tabled an amendment to scrap “pills by post” early medical abortion access, joining forces with Miriam Cates, George Galloway, Iain Duncan Smith, Jacob Rees-Mogg and other hardline MPs determined to roll back women’s reproductive healthcare.
Former Conservative MP Anne Widdecombe is a long-time member of the parliamentary pro-life group and vocal opponent of abortion rights.
Anne Marie Morris, former Conservative MP, did not vote for recent reforms to improve abortion access.
Kerry Abel, Chair of Abortion Rights, said: “The fact that anti-abortion MPs and ex-MPs are flocking to Reform is deeply worrying. This is not about being ‘pro-family’ — it is about stripping women of their rights and rolling back decades of progress.
“The anti-abortion movement is becoming more organised, visible and confident. We cannot allow them to drag Britain backwards. Abortion is healthcare, and the majority of people in this country support women’s right to access it safely and without shame. Reform’s embrace of these figures exposes their agenda to attack our hard-won rights.”
Abel also said that since the end of 2024, Reform has begun speaking more about abortion and family values.
She argued that Reform is importing anti-abortion politics from the US, stating: “It’s been a tactic by anyone who is anti-choice to look to the US, but I think this is a sign of where Reform are going with this.”
Olivia Barber is a reporter at Left Foot Forward
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