12 Parliament BPAS work cross-party and have successfully led campaigns under different governments, for example the House of Commons vote to make telemedicine for early abortion care permanent, under Conservative leadership. In July 2024 Labour were voted into parliament. Of those MPs known to be opposed or strongly opposed to abortion rights 70% lost their seats (a fall from 237 to 69). Pre-election 51% of MPs were graded as strong or very strong supporters of abortion rights, compared to 40% who were opposed or strongly opposed. Applying a previous parliament party average weighting to newly elected members, we would expect the distribution of MPs in this parliament to be 81% supportive or strongly supportive and 15% to be opposed or strongly opposed. Wes Streeting was appointed Secretary of State for Health and Social Care when the new parliament was formed. In his first month in office, he made announcements on areas including: • The Department of Health and Social Care as a driver of economic growth, including supporting public health and enabling people to return to work. • An independent investigation into the NHS by Lord Darzi, with its outcomes feeding into the Government’s ten-year plan’ to radically transform the health service. BPAS had responded to Darzi’s call for evidence highlighting the challenges in abortion care. • Criticism of the CQC as the regulator of health services following some widely published challenges within the organisation in July 2024, taking immediate action to increase oversight with a view to reform later in 2024.
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