CV NEWS FEED // Leaked documents from the UK’s Liberal Democrat Party reveal that individuals may be disqualified from standing as party candidates if they have pro-life views on abortion, according to a September 23 report from Right To Life News.
The documents have surfaced in the midst of a legal battle involving former BBC journalist David Campanale, who is suing the party for discrimination based on his Christian beliefs, including his opposition to abortion, according to the report. Campanale, who had won his local selection in Sutton and Cheam, was deselected earlier this year, and he claims his deselection was driven by local party members’ hostility toward his traditional Christian views.
According to the leaked documents, the deselection occurred because Campanale “expressed religious beliefs against abortion,” which were seen as “conflicted with the fundamental values set out” in the party’s governing documents.
In the report, Anglican former Archbishop of Canterbury Rowan Williams expressed unease regarding the leaked papers, stating that the party’s stance seems to require “total agreement in private and public.”
Catherine Robinson, spokeswoman for Right To Life UK, described the situation as “deeply worrying” and pointed to polling that shows the British public is more pro-life than commonly assumed.
According to Robinson, only 1% of women support abortion up to birth, and 70% favor reducing the legal time limit for abortion from 24 weeks to 20 weeks or earlier. Data also shows that 65% of Liberal Democrat voters support lowering the limit to 20 weeks or below.
