Following the result of the 2024 General Election, which saw the Labour Party come to power in a landslide, we should consider what this means for the pro-life movement for, potentially, the next five years. Should we be worried? The simple answer is yes – but we should not despair.

Labour’s 411 Parliamentary seats (63.2% of all MPs) are certainly worrying, and SPUC expects that many of these MPs (new and old) are pro-abortion, hence more likely to vote for legislation harmful to the unborn and their mothers.

Of particular concern would be any vote to decriminalise abortion, which would probably be spearheaded yet again by Labour MPs Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy, both of whom kept their seats in 2024. Other well-known pro-abortion MPs also won, including Jess Phillips and Rupa Huq.

To make matters worse, over a dozen pro-life MPs lost their seats; many will be familiar to SPUC supporters, especially Miriam Cates, Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg, Ian Paisley, Fiona Bruce, Sir Liam Fox and Caroline Ansell.

However, several pro-life MPs retained their seats, including Sir Ian Duncan Smith, Mary Glindon, Carla Lockhart, Tim Farron, Mark Francois and Desmond Swayne.

Overall, we now have fewer allies in Westminster, where the new intake of (mostly Labour) MPs seems more pro-abortion than pro-life. We should not underestimate the potential impact of this shift, even though Labour’s share of the popular vote only increased by 1.7% compared with the 2019 General Election.

Threat of abortion discrimination now much greater

While the 2024 Labour Manifesto did not mention abortion, this does not mean that the Labour Party or its MPs will not seek to impose pro-abortion legislation on the UK.

The same Labour MPs who recently tabled extreme pro-abortion amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill will almost certainly try again to decriminalise abortion up to birth, which would be a disaster for women and unborn babies. The abortion lobby, not least BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices, will also seize the opportunity to work with like-minded MPs to bring this about. The 2024 influx of pro-abortion MPs could tip the balance in their favour.

Assisted suicide also on the agenda

While Labour did not make assisted suicide a campaign issue, its leader, Sir Keir Starmer, who has previously voted for such legislation, has said he will support a vote on a new law.

The assisted suicide lobby was already pushing hard for a law change before the General Election, and, as with abortion, advocates will undoubtedly try to take advantage of a Labour majority that might be more inclined towards it.

While there has been some pushback against this – most notably Liz Carr’s documentary Better Off Dead? – the threat that the UK might adopt a law similar to that in Canada, where over 13,500 Canadians were killed by assisted suicide in 2022, is very real and cannot be discounted.

A cultural issue, not just a matter of politics

We must ready ourselves for the battle to come; never before has so much been at stake in the UK, with abortion surging to unprecedented levels: over 250,000 unborn babies were killed by abortion in 2022 in England and Wales.

This fight for life will take place on different fronts, and the public must be made aware of this. For example, 87.26% of unborn babies prenatally diagnosed with Down’s syndrome in England and Wales (and Crown Dependencies) were aborted in 2021. Sir Liam Fox, who lost his seat, had proposed a law change to stop this discriminatory regime of up-to-birth abortion. It now seems unlikely that this targeting of the disabled will cease under the Labour Government – another consequence of the General Election.  

Of course, SPUC will be campaigning like never before, with the help of its supporters, to bring about a world where abortion is unthinkable. Setbacks are inevitable, and it’s important to recognise that, while the pro-abortion majority in Parliament has perhaps never been so great, Westminster does not represent overall public opinion, especially on abortion up to birth, which remains deeply unpopular.

Politics, it has been said, is downstream from culture. Ultimately, real change can only be brought about by a radical shift in priorities and values. It is up to us to set the example and let it be a shining light that others can see and follow in the current darkness. The best and maybe the only way we can give the unborn a meaningful voice in Westminster is to create a culture that insists on pro-life MPs and leaders of all political persuasions in Parliament.