29 NOVEMBER 2022 | NEWS
Former Cabinet Minister Jacob Rees-Mogg has come under fire after referring to abortion rights as a “cult of death”.
The Conservative MP, who holds strong Catholic views, said abortions are morally wrong and that it was wrong for the state to allow the procedures.
He also refused to agree that the right to termination of pregnancy should be protected even in cases of rape or incest.
During a debate in Parliament, held in response to a petition advocating legal rights to abortion access, Labour MP Stella Creasy asked if he supported the right of women to choose to an abortion if they were a victim of rape or incest.
Mr Rees-Mogg said: “I think the destruction of life is wrong.
“I do not believe that we should say that a new life should be destroyed. I do not believe that that is the right of the state.
“This is about destroying life. This is the cult of death. It is the great tragedy of abortion, and it is considered normal.
“The extraordinarily high number of babies that are destroyed is something that should sadden us all to the depths of our souls.”
He also stated his belief that life begins at the point of conception.
Labour MP Nadia Whittome launched a scathing attack on Twitter, labelling Mr Rees-Mogg the “MP for the 18th century” and having “extreme backwards views”.
The Independent reports that Mr Rees-Mogg had previously admitted that his own investment firm profited from pills used in abortions.
In 2017, it was revealed that Somerset Capital Management had made a £5 million investment in an Indonesian company called Kalbe Farma, which reportedly produced pills to trigger abortions.
But the MP’s controversial views on abortion were already known, as well as his opposition to same-sex marriage.
He continues to defend these beliefs on the grounds of his Catholic faith, and has previously stated that he “takes the Catholic whip”.
