A total of 13 MPs who self-identify as Catholics voted for either abortion up to and during birth or for assisted suicide, or for both, analysis has revealed.
Some voted for an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill last month to decriminalise abortion, for any reason, in spite of the tradition of Church teaching that abortion is not only a grave and intrinsic moral evil but also an unspeakable crime.
Days later, others voted in favour of the Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill which will allow doctors to help patients to kill themselves.
Their votes helped to pass the Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s private member’s Bill at Third Reading in the House of Commons. The Bill will go to a vote at the House of Lords in September before it becomes law.
The Catholic MPs voted for assisted suicide in spite of repeated pleas from the bishops of England and Wales and from Catholic priests and laity to reject the legislation because it directly contradicts the Commandment not to kill.
Some MPs voted for both abortion up to birth and assisted suicide. According to Voice of the Family, which has compiled the list, the 13 are:
- Chris Coghlan, the Liberal Democrat MP, for Dorking and Horley, who voted for assisted suicide even though a local priest, Fr Ian Vane, warned him that he would be refused Communion if he did so under Canon 915 of the 1983 Code of Canon Law promulgated by Pope St John Paul II;
- Dan Aldridge, Labour MP for Weston-super-Mare, who declared his Catholic faith in an Instagram post and on LinkedIn, but who voted to decriminalise abortion up to the moment of birth and for assisted suicide;
- Kevin Bonavia, Labour MP for Stevenage, who voted for abortion up to birth and assisted suicide even though he called himself a Catholic in an interview with a local newspaper soon after his selection as and prospective parliamentary candidate for the seat he won in July last year;
- David Chadwick, Liberal Democrat MP for Brecon, Radnor and Cwm Tawe, who has referred to his “staunch Roman Catholic family” and their faith both on X and on his Party’s website, voted for abortion up to birth and for assisted suicide;
- Colum Eastwood, the SDLP MP for Foyle and a Catholic who sometimes goes to Mass and who voted for both abortion up to birth and for assisted suicide;
- Florence Eshalomi, the Labour MP for Vauxhall and Camberwell Green, who said her life revolves around a Catholic parish on Brixton Road, south London, but who voted for abortion up to birth;
- Claire Hanna, SDLP MP for Belfast South and Mid Down, who voted for abortion up to birth weeks after she expressed the hope that “Pope Leo will not shy away from calling out injustice and inhumanity”;
- Rebecca Long Bailey, Labour MP for Salford, who has always voted to extend access to abortion and who voted for abortion up to and during birth;
- Dame Shiobhain McDonagh, Labour MP for Mitcham and Morden, who voted for abortion up to the moment of birth;
- Andy McDonald, Labour MP for Middlesbrough and Thornaby and a founding member of the Catholics for Labour group in 2017, voted for abortion up to birth;
- Pat McFadden, Labour MP for Wolverhampton South East, voted for both abortion up to birth and for assisted suicide;
- Oliver Ryan, Independent MP for Burnley, boasted about his Catholicism to the Burnley Express while mourning the death of Pope Francis. He voted for both abortion up to birth and for assisted suicide;
- Dr Ben Spencer, Conservative MP for Runnymede and Weybridge, who also describes himself as a Catholic on his X account, voted for abortion up to birth.
Voice of the Family said on its website that it is launching a campaign of prayer aiming “in particular that the Catholic bishops of England and Wales will reverse their policy of admitting to Holy Communion Catholic parliamentarians who vote for intrinsic evils”.
“This reversal of policy is all the more urgent now that one Catholic priest has, courageously and in accordance with canon law, publicly refused Holy Communion to his local MP who voted for assisted suicide,” the group said.
(Photo of Pat McFadden by Ian Forsyth/Getty Images)
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