New UK Prime Minister Favors Lowering Abortion Limit

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LONDON (ChurchMilitant.com) - Prime Minister Theresa May believes legal abortions should be reduced from 24 weeks to 20.

On Monday, the BBC asked her about her stance on abortion and she said, "My personal view is a reduction to 20 weeks." but she added, "The government has no plans to replace the limit."

She's the third member of the Conservative government to call for a reduction on when abortions should be allowed.

Newly appointed health secretary Jeremy Hunt recently said abortion should be cut down to the 12th week of gestation, commenting "It's just my view about that incredibly difficult question about the moment that we should deem life to start. I don't think the reason I have that view is for religious reasons."

Culture Secretary and Women's Minister Maria Miller said lowering the limit would "reflect the way science has moved on," calling it "common sense."

The Abortion Act of 1967 is law in England, Wales, and Scotland, decriminalizing abortion until the 24th week of gestation. Abortion is allowed up to the 24th week for the so-called physical or mental health of the mother or her other children, risk of life to the mother and if the child would have "physical or mental abnormalities" making it seriously handicapped.

However, PM May isn't considered an advocate of traditional family values, having shifted her views on LGBT policies. In 2000, she voted to keep a government ban on the discussion of homosexuality in schools and government offices and two years later voted for legislation preventing same-sex couples from being able to adopt children.

But she began to shift a year later, approving of domestic partnerships for same-sex couples. In 2010, PM David Cameron appointed her equality minister and she told the BBC, "If those [same-sex adoption] votes were today, yes, I have changed my view and I think I would take a different vote."

In 2013, she fully supported same-sex marriage and recently commented to an LBGT activist group,

For me, equality is about fairness. It is simply wrong for anyone to face discrimination or abuse because of who they are or who they love. A Conservative Government under my leadership would be unequivocally committed to supporting LGBT people, and continuing the vital task of tackling hate crime, homophobia and transphobia — both in the UK and around the world.

Before parliament elected her prime minister, May was the Home Secretary for England and Wales, a position that made her responsible for immigration, citizenship and national security in the United Kingdom. Now she is the second woman prime minister in UK history after Margaret Thatcher in 1979.

As Home Minister in 2008, she voted for the reduction of abortion to 20 weeks but she didn't carry enough influence to change the law.

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