None of the six men who are standing to be the next prime minister of the United Kingdom have said they are in favour of changing the law to make abortion legal in Northern Ireland.

BuzzFeed News asked all of the Conservative leadership hopefuls whether they would extend abortion rights to Northern Ireland — the only place in the United Kingdom where it is almost completely banned. Five of the six candidates said they would take no action. Boris Johnson did not respond at all.

The 1967 Abortion Act, which applies in England and Wales and allows termination in certain circumstances up to 24 weeks, does not apply in Northern Ireland. Abortion is currently illegal there in almost all circumstances, and is allowed only when there is a direct threat to the life of the mother. The restrictive abortion laws, which are at odds with the rest of the United Kingdom, have been deemed incompatible with human rights by the Supreme Court. At present, many women from Northern Ireland travel to England to access the procedure.

After the Republic of Ireland voted to repeal the eighth amendment, which banned abortion in almost all circumstances, campaigners have been putting pressure on UK parliamentarians to give women in Northern Ireland greater access to abortion.



The London-Irish Abortion Rights Campaign last week released an open letter to all Conservative leadership candidates, calling on them to pledge to give parliamentary time to a vote on abortion in Northern Ireland. The letter was signed by 45 organisations and celebrities, including Phoebe Waller-Bridge and Adrian Dunbar.



While several of the leadership hopefuls said they support a woman’s right to choose, none told BuzzFeed News that they would legislate to give women in Northern Ireland abortion rights, saying this must be done by Northern Ireland’s devolved assembly. The assembly hasn’t sat for more than two years, after a power-sharing agreement broke down.

Here’s what each candidate said:



Boris Johnson

Frontrunner Boris Johnson did not respond to a request for comment and did not turn up to a hustings event where journalists were able to ask questions of the prime ministerial hopefuls.

Dominic Raab and Rory Stewart

Dominic Raab and Rory Stewart both said they were passionately in favour of a woman’s right to choose — but neither has said they would seek to change the law.

Raab told BuzzFeed News: “My view is that we want to see as few unwanted pregnancies as possible, and I think education, and working with young people and family planning is the way to do that.

“I also powerfully believe in a woman’s right to choose, yes I hold the same views for the whole of the United Kingdom, and I would want to try to encourage and promote those standards — what I’m not going to do is rip up the constitutional settlement in order to achieve it because I think that if we start doing that on this issue, as important as it is, we would put at risk the delicate balance in Northern Ireland.”

A spokesperson for Rory Stewart said that the “fundamental point is that Rory is passionately committed to women’s right to choose.”

However, they added that “he also believes that ideally devolved issues should be settled by devolved administrations.”

Michael Gove

A Michael Gove campaign source told BuzzFeed News: “This is a sensitive matter and requires careful handling. Michael’s preference is that we should have the same laws on such issues across the whole of the UK, but under the devolution settlement, changes in laws affecting Northern Ireland should be a matter for the Northern Ireland Assembly and Executive.

“Michael is determined to get power sharing back in operation in Northern Ireland and has committed personally to leading the talks to do so.”

Sajid Javid

A source close to Sajid Javid said: “Saj recognises this is a devolved matter and we have to respect that.”

Jeremy Hunt

The former health secretary, who was criticised for saying he was personally in favour of reducing the existing 24-week time limit to 12 weeks, avoided giving an answer when the question was put to him directly, saying: “As health secretary I authorised funding for women in Northern Ireland who weren’t able to get abortions.”

When asked for further comment, a spokesperson for Hunt said: “This is a devolved issue and is yet another reason why we must get Stormont up and running again. Jeremy would support any changes locally accountable politicians wished to implement.”