PRESS RELEASE: Reform becomes home for anti-abortion politicians

Abortion Rights warns surge of ex-MPs with anti-choice records threatens women’s rights in Britain.

Reform UK is fast becoming the political refuge for anti-abortion hardliners. A growing number of ex-MPs with long records of opposing women’s rights are finding a home in a party that calls itself “pro-family” and proudly embraces anti-choice politics. Abortion Rights warns this is a dangerous step backwards for Britain, giving fresh oxygen to those who want to strip away women’s hard-won freedoms.

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.”

Among those now aligned with Reform are:

• Danny Kruger, sitting MP for East Wiltshire, who defected to Reform in September 2025. Kruger has previously argued in Parliament that women do not have “an absolute right to bodily autonomy” when it comes to abortion, reflecting a hardline anti-choice position.
• Maria Caulfield, former Conservative MP, who repeatedly voted to restrict abortion access — including opposing buffer zones around clinics, voting against at-home early medical abortion, and describing abortion providers as “unethical, unsafe, and unprofessional.”
  
• Nadine Dorries, former Conservative MP, who spent years pushing to lower abortion time limits and impose new restrictions on access.
  
• Ann Widdecombe, former Conservative MP, a long-time member of the parliamentary pro-life group and vocal opponent of abortion rights.
  
• Andrea Jenkyns, former Conservative MP, whose voting record shows opposition to measures designed to ease access to abortion. She has publicly described herself as personally “pro-life” and has opposed what she calls the “liberalisation” of abortion law.
  
• Anne Marie Morris, former Conservative MP, who has not supported recent reforms to improve abortion access. While her voting record does not show her backing liberalising measures, she has now taken a senior policy role within Reform UK.
• Lee Anderson, MP for Ashfield, who defected to Reform in early 2024 after a career of political flip-flopping — first a Labour councillor, then a Conservative MP, and now a Reform frontman. In 2024, Anderson 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.
  

Concerns about the influence of anti-abortion politicians are not new. In recent years, Maria Caulfield was even given ministerial responsibility for abortion care, despite her long record of opposing access to services. Her appointment was widely criticised as a dangerous conflict of interest, illustrating how anti-choice views have been given political power in government.

Abortion Rights says the convergence of Reform’s recruitment of anti-abortion politicians and the government’s previous appointment of an anti-choice minister signals a coordinated effort to erode women’s rights in Britain.