David Cameron has called for a lower abortion limit and no weakening on assisted suicide, in an interview with The Catholic Herald.
The current law allows for an abortion up to 24 weeks of pregnancy.
But Mr Cameron said an upper limit of “20 or 22″ weeks would be sensible, in the light of modern science and technology.
However Conservative sources have said that a vote on abortion would be unlikely in the first few months of any Conservative victory at the General Election, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Pressure
Mr Cameron also said that he personally believes there should not be any change in the law on assisted suicide.
He commented: “my personal view is that if assisted dying is legalised, there is a danger that terminally ill people may feel pressurised into ending their lives if they feel they’ve become a burden on loved ones. I don’t believe anyone should be put in this position”.
And the Tory leader continued: “I’ve come to this view because I think there is a very fine, but at the same time very important, line to be drawn between allowing nature to take its course under some incredibly painful circumstances and on the other hand allowing doctors or others (however well-intentioned) to accelerate death.
“I think it would be wrong to tread over this line, because there are very serious implications for our families, and for our society as a whole.”
Limit
The Tory leader said a review is needed on the abortion limit, remarking that he believes a “modest reduction” is necessary.
He said: “I think that the way medical science and technology have developed in the past few decades does mean that an upper limit of 20 or 22 weeks would be sensible.
“So I supported the two amendments to the Human Fertilisation and Embryology Bill which would have changed this and I’ll continue to support a modest reduction in the abortion limit.
Conscience
“But what’s really important here is that Members of Parliament are always allowed a free vote on this issue.
“This is an issue of conscience, so it would be wrong to put pressure on Parliamentary colleagues when it comes to voting on this.”
Mr Cameron said that his party is not considering overturning the controversial Human Fertilisation and Embryology Act, which allows for the creation of animal-human hybrid embryos.
Highest
No change was made to the upper time limit on abortion when it was debated in Parliament two years ago.
At the end of last year it was revealed that abortion numbers in the UK are the highest in Europe with 219,336 terminations taking place in one year.
These figures, released by the Institute for Family Policies, also show Britain has the highest number of abortions for girls under 20 with 48,150 of the abortions falling into this age group.
