diff --git a/app/models/legislation/draft_version.rb b/app/models/legislation/draft_version.rb
index 858a23391..02020dda9 100644
--- a/app/models/legislation/draft_version.rb
+++ b/app/models/legislation/draft_version.rb
@@ -26,8 +26,10 @@ class Legislation::DraftVersion < ActiveRecord::Base
     renderer = Redcarpet::Render::HTML.new(with_toc_data: true)
     toc_renderer = Redcarpet::Render::HTML_TOC.new(with_toc_data: true)
 
-    self.body_html = Redcarpet::Markdown.new(renderer).render(body)
-    self.toc_html = Redcarpet::Markdown.new(toc_renderer).render(body)
+    if body_changed?
+      self.body_html = Redcarpet::Markdown.new(renderer).render(body)
+      self.toc_html = Redcarpet::Markdown.new(toc_renderer).render(body)
+    end
 
     translations.each do |translation|
       if translation.body_changed?