An Oxford MP who led the fight against changes to the abortion law has said the House of Commons made the right decision in rejecting attempts to reduce the upper limit of 24 weeks.

In the closest vote, MPs rejected by 304 to 233 a proposal to reduce the upper limit for abortions to 22 weeks.

This came after a series of amendments to cut the time limit to 12, 16 and 20 weeks were all rejected. The 12 week cut failed by 393 to 71.

The votes marked the failure of a campaign backed by Cardinal Cormac Murphy O'Connor to use debate on the human fertilisation and embryology bill to block or reverse major social and scientific changes.

Evan Harris, the pro-choice Liberal Democrat MP for Oxford West and Abingdon, said: "Parliament has made the right decision, respecting women's rights to access abortion and taking the advice of the medical world about what the appropriate time limit should be."

David Cameron voted against the 12 week cut. But he voted for the cuts to 20 and then to 22 weeks, in contrast to George Osborne, the shadow chancellor, who followed his liberal voting pattern on Tuesday on hybrid embryos when he supported the status quo on abortion.

Ministers accused backbench anti-abortion campaigners on both sides of the house of hijacking the bill, which is designed to pave the way for greater scientific research to cure diseases, by tabling a series of abortion amendments.

In addition to the four votes on time limits, a fifth - an attempt to make counselling compulsory - was rejected by 309 votes to 173.

Gordon Brown and most of the cabinet voted to uphold the status quo on abortion. But three Catholic cabinet ministers - Ruth Kelly, Paul Murphy and Des Browne - voted to cut the limit by 12 weeks and then by 22 weeks.

A further 17 ministers outside the cabinet, including government whips, voted to cut the limit to 22 weeks.

Dawn Primarolo, the health minister, told MPs there was no scientific evidence to warrant a reduction in the time limit.