Long-serving members of the Canberra Liberals have broken ranks on abortion, despite leader Alistair Coe promising last year not to repeal the ACT's abortion laws if the party won office.
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Abortions have been legal and regulated in the ACT since 2002.
But Liberal health spokeswoman Vicki Dunne became embroiled in a Twitter war with ACT Labor MLA Tara Cheyne last weekend after Mrs Dunne tweeted her congratulations to the NSW Legislative Council after it voted down a bill that would have decriminalised abortion.
After Ms Cheyne pointed out abortion had been legal for about as long as the Liberals had been in opposition, Mrs Dunne retorted the ACT bill legalising abortion had been "bad law" too.
Mrs Dunne then accused Ms Cheyne of being "pro-abortion for the votes" .
Ms Cheyne hit back, saying she was "pro-choice ... for women's rights".
Liberal member Andrew Wall wrote in an opinion piece in The Canberra Times that he was "somewhat appalled" that one of the new streets in Denman Prospect was named for Julia Trubridge-Freebury who "proudly admitted to having four abortions".
The comments are a departure from what the Liberals promised before last year's election.
In a pre-election profile, Mr Coe - who was then deputy leader - said he would not attempt to change the law if the Liberals won the election, despite his personal opposition to abortion.
Mr Coe pointed to his record in the assembly where he had never sought to raise such an issue and pointed also at the unity of the Liberal team as proof a repeal would be off-the-cards.
Chief Minister Andrew Barr called on Mr Coe to " overrule his health spokesperson [Mrs Dunne] and rule out the denial of a women's right to choose as Liberal party health policy".
"The right to choose is a fundamental principle for my government and it concerns me that the Liberal health spokesperson is advocating publicly to make abortions illegal," Mr Barr said.
"This is a deeply conservative approach to health policy – and once again demonstrates that Alistair Coe and his team are the most conservative branch of the Liberal party in the country."
In a statement, Mr Coe reaffirmed the Canberra Liberals would not be moving to change laws on abortion.
He said he would not be clamping down on his team's right to express personal opinions.
"Unlike the Labor Party the Canberra Liberals allow members to express personal views on a range of issues," Mr Coe said.
