As abortion continues to be a divisive issue within the federal Tory government, a group seeking to end the practice in Canada is taking aim at Prime Minister Stephen Harper and fellow Calgary Conservative MP Michelle Rempel.

The Canadian Centre for Bio-Ethical Reform is distributing thousands of explicit postcards in Harper’s Calgary Southwest and Rempel’s Calgary Centre-North ridings that feature pictures of aborted fetuses next to the politicians’ faces.

They’re the first of five Canadian politicians “who have failed pre-born children” and will face pamphlet campaigns this spring, said Stephanie Gray, executive director of the organization, which has offices in Calgary and Toronto.

“Prime Minister Harper has made it very clear that he not only will not open the abortion debate, he will basically prevent it from being opened,” Gray said in an interview.

“He has said that he will defeat any abortion-related legislation and what that essentially means is that the status quo is maintained, which is that abortions can happen through all nine months of pregnancy.”

Gray said Rempel is being targeted because she has been classified as a pro-choice MP by the Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada and for her opposition to Conservative MP Stephen Woodworth’s motion last September asking Parliament to investigate when life begins.

There were 87 Tory MPs who supported the motion, derided by critics as a means to restart efforts to legislate around abortion. Harper also opposed the Woodworth motion.

Asked to comment on the postcard campaign, Harper spokesman Carl Vallee said in an email that “the prime minister has always been clear that our government doesn’t intend to reopen this debate.”

In an interview from Ottawa, Rempel said Wednesday she understands the strong feelings about abortion, calling it a “deeply personal issue.” But she said Harper campaigned on a promise not to restart the debate, which is also official Conservative party policy.

“When I sought the nomination and campaigned, I campaigned on those two principles,” said Rempel.

Abortion has become a point of controversy within the federal Conservative caucus since Woodworth’s motion last fall.

Some Conservative MPs chafed over the government’s shutdown of MP Mark Warawa’s motion condemning sex-selection abortion. Tories also continue to present petitions condemning abortion and calling for new laws, and the annual March for Life on Parliament Hill saw 21 government MPs in attendance.

“A lot has been talked about this year about the ability of parliamentarians to have respectful debate on a wide variety of issues and I certainly support that principle. Having said that ... we made a promise to Canadians,” said Rempel.

University of Regina political scientist Jim Farney, who has studied social conservatism in politics, said he senses a growing frustration within one wing of the federal Tory party over the lack of action on abortion, especially after the party won a majority government in 2011.

“I think the so-cons are saying, ‘We haven’t got anything for our support,’” he said.