Liberal MPs tell Premier they will defect to crossbench over abortion bill

Two Liberal MPs have told Premier Gladys Berejiklian that they are prepared to plunge the Coalition into minority government if "essential amendments" are not made to the abortion bill.

Mulgoa MP Tanya Davies confirmed to a public meeting on Monday night that she has told Ms Berejiklian that she will "separate herself from the government" if amendments are not passed.

Liberal MPs Tanya Davies and Kevin Conolly.Credit: AAP

Riverstone MP Kevin Conolly later said he had also been left in an "untenable position" by the bill.

The abortion bill will be debated in the upper house on September 17 but several MPs and ministers want the draft legislation to be significantly amended, including banning gender selection.

Speaking at the Cathedral Conversations event at St John's Anglican Cathedral in Parramatta, Mrs Davies said she was outraged at the speed in which the bill was introduced and warned that there was widespread anger across NSW.

In confirming for the first time her intention to move to the crossbench, Mrs Davies said there was "only one thing politicians pay attention to and that is numbers".

"To win preselection, you need 50 plus 1, to win an election you need 50 plus 1, if you want to win government you need 50 plus 1, at the moment we hold government by 50 plus two," she said.

"I am one of those two, and there is another colleague of mine, who have told the Premier and the Deputy Premier [John Barilaro] that if they do not make essential amendments to this bill, we will remove ourselves from the party room.

"This means, we will disconnect ourselves from the leadership of the Liberals and Nationals which means the government goes into minority government."

Mrs Davies was referring to her colleague Mr Conolly, who said he had been backed into a corner over the bill.

"This issue has left me in an untenable position because I am being asked to stand by and watch my own government do something that I do not support," Mr Conolly said on Tuesday.

Mrs Davies urged voters to "express their outrage" by contacting Ms Berejiklian and Mr Barilaro, as well as members of the upper house before parliament returns on September 17.

The bill passed the lower house 59 to 31, but it created a split within the Liberals, with 19 of the party's 35 MPs voting against it.

When asked by event moderator, Reverend David Ould, if she would be committing "political suicide" by moving to the crossbench, Mrs Davies said "yes".

Mrs Davies said she was working with the Premier and Health Minister Brad Hazzard on the amendments, with a focus on ensuring gender selection was included in the bill.

Also at the Anglican Church event was Labor MP for Bankstown, Tania Mihailuk, who has been the opposition's most vocal opponent of the decriminalisation bill.

She said the Premier needed to be sent "the message there needs to be a compromise on this."

The Anglican Archbishop of Sydney, Glenn Davies, told the meeting that the abortion bill had been an "appalling miscarriage of justice".

He congratulated Mrs Davies and Ms Mihailuk for the way “they stood up against their two parties.”

“I am very impressed by Tanya Davies being willing to give up her political career and move to the cross benches,” Mr Davies said.

Ms Berejiklian declined to comment and Mr Barilaro said he would not comment on private conversations with MPs.