Reform cannot be trusted with abortion law

Farage has reopened the argument, his MPs have voted for restriction, and his head of policy opposes abortion even in pregnancies resulting from rape. Reform’s evasions should fool nobody.

Votes against decriminalising abortion

Nigel Farage has already reopened the argument, first by saying MPs should debate cutting the 24-week limit, then by calling that limit “utterly ludicrous” and “totally out of date”. Four Reform MPs then voted against decriminalising abortion for women in England and Wales, and backed a further restriction requiring in-person consultation before abortion medication. Farage had no vote recorded, but his party’s direction was plain enough, and it became plainer still when Reform made James Orr its head of policy, despite Orr opposing abortion even in pregnancies resulting from rape.

Reform keeps its official abortion position deliberately vague, which is exactly why it is dangerous. There is no abortion policy on the party’s published policy pages, yet Farage has let ADF International use his words in a campaign against buffer zones outside abortion clinics, and the people now shaping Reform’s policy world sit inside the same transatlantic hard-right ecosystem that spent years eroding reproductive rights in the United States. You do not need a manifesto promise of outright rollback to see the threat. Personnel, rhetoric and parliamentary votes already point in the same direction.

Abortion law is about whether women retain control over their own bodies when circumstances become frightening or unbearable. That is why this should not be brushed aside as a side issue or a conscience question. Nine in ten voters now support the right to access abortion, including 86% of Reform voters, which makes Reform’s positioning all the more revealing. Farage and his party are probing for room to drag Britain backwards on women’s rights and reproductive rights while hoping the public will be soothed by ambiguity. Women would be foolish to trust them.