Member

I have no doubt that my views on abortion would be in a minority throughout the UK. But it is also the case—we have had statistics cited from various surveys—that only 16% believe that it should not be a criminal offence if it is beyond the time limits and only 1% of the public support abortion up to birth. So this is a very radical solution. It is a very radical change compared with other jurisdictions. Within virtually every country in Europe, abortion is now legal. But for the bulk of those countries, the time limits, generally speaking, are between 12 and 14 weeks. The only country that has as high a limit as ours is the Netherlands, which in certain circumstances can go to 24 weeks. This would make us very much the outlier within Europe. I think that is of grave concern to people.