Five FRP members can secure a new abortion law – going against their own party leadership

– For me, it’s regarding being on the right side of history, says Roy Steffensen NRK.

According to the channel, it is he, Terje Halleland, Bengt Rune Strifeldt, Sivert Bjørnstad and Himanshu Gulati who will go once morest their own party leadership and vote for the new abortion law.

The government has announced that it will submit proposals for a new abortion law before the summer. It will contain an extension of the abortion limit to week 18, as the abortion committee recommended in its report in December.

Until now, it has been uncertain whether the government’s proposal for changes to the law will receive a majority.

Missing five

Liberals, the Labor Party, SV, MDG and Red are the parties that will vote for a new abortion limit. They have 80 representatives in the Storting. The proposal needs at least 85 to be adopted. Thus, the five Frp votes can be absolutely decisive.

FRP leader Sylvi Listhaug has told TV 2 that she is once morest a new abortion law, and the same has been said by first deputy leader Hans Andreas Limi.

The party’s 2nd deputy leader Terje Søviknes, on the other hand, says that he has concluded that there should be self-determined abortion up to week 18.

FRP has exempted its representatives. On Saturday, Listhaug says that the management must respect the decision of the five representatives.

– They are in their full rights. You must be able to stand up for what you believe is right. It is a question many people have strong feelings regarding, and therefore it is something we leave to the individual, she says to NRK.

Almost everyone gets a yes

The five Frp politicians are unanimous in their point of view, and Steffensen points out that 97 per cent of those who apply to the tribunal for an abortion following 12 weeks are granted it under the current law.

Gulati tells NRK that he does not want to extend the number of weeks, but he believes it is right that it is the woman who decides as long as 18 weeks have been opened.

Silje Hjemdal, who is one of two women in the Frp’s parliamentary group and sits on the family and culture committee, says she has not decided what she will vote for yet.

– I’m still open. I will arrive at a position when the case is eventually delivered to the Storting and I have seen the input we get there, she says to NTB.

The Minister of Health is satisfied

The new health minister Jan Christian Vestre (Ap) thinks it is good that the five FRP members will extend the abortion law in line with what the government will propose.

– The Labor Party is keen to strengthen women’s right to abortion in Norway. I am happy that several of the Storting representatives of the FRP will help secure a majority for this, he says to NTB.

Vestre’s government colleague, Minister for Children and Families Kjersti Toppe (Sp), would prefer to keep the current abortion law. She finds it interesting that there are five Frp men who have decided to vote for an extension.

– This is often raised as a purely women’s issue, but a survey on attitudes to abortion among Norwegians shows that the majority of Norwegian women are actually in favor of the current abortion law, she says to TV 2.

In Statistics Norway’s voter survey for the general election in 2021, 47 per cent believed that the limit for self-determined abortion should be at week 12 (54 per cent among women, 40 per cent among men).