UK abortion laws set for huge overhaul as MPs vote on decriminalisation
According to proposed changes to UK abortion laws, MPs are set to vote on decriminalising terminations after 24 weeks or without approval from doctors in England and Wales
Women will no longer face prosecution for terminating a pregnancy in England and Wales under a proposed law that is set to be passed following an MP vote.
In the biggest overhaul of abortion law, terminations would be decriminalised and women would no longer be prosecuted for ending a pregnancy after 24 weeks or without approval from doctors.
The proposed changes come after an e-petition created by Labour MP Stella Creasy calling for the decriminalisation of abortion was launched in December 2024, and has since received over 103,000 signatures. The petition stated: 'I am calling on the UK government to remove abortion from criminal law so that no pregnant person can be criminalised for procuring their own abortion.'
The petition also pointed out that the UK is out of step with advice released by the World Health Organisation in 2022, which advises that medically unnecessary barriers to safe abortion, such as criminalisation, should be removed. It was brought forward for a parliamentary debate on June 2.
The changes are said to be widely backed and now, MPs have been offered a free vote on a change to the law. Their free vote means they will not be told how to vote by their party.
What are the current guidelines for abortion in England and Wales
At present, all abortions after 24 weeks are illegal, with exception of limited circumstances. This includes the mother's life being at risk or if the child were to be born with a severe disability.
The Abortion Act was introduced to Great Britain in 1967, and allowed women to legally terminate a pregnancy up to 28 weeks with the certification of two doctors. In 1990, the limit was changed to 24 weeks. This means that a woman who undergoes an abortion without the permission of two doctors – for example, by buying abortion pills online – can be charged with a criminal offence.
READ MORE: Inside the Victorian era law of 1861 that governs abortion rights in the UK
The Act states that abortions must be carried out either in a hospital or licensed clinic. However, this was changed during the Covid pandemic in 2020, when at-home abortion pills were made available by post for people seeking to terminate their pregnancy in the first 10 weeks.
What are the proposed changes to abortion law in England and Wales?
Labour MP Tonia Antonizzi is calling for an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill in her attempts to decriminalise abortion at any stage by a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy. Consequently ending the threat of investigation or imprisonment.
Access to abortion would remain the same, as would time limits in healthcare settings, and patients would still need sign off by two doctors.
"The police cannot be trusted with abortion law – nor can the CPS or the wider criminal justice system," Antoniazzi told the BBC. "My amendment to the crime and policing bill will give us the urgent change we need to protect women."
Katherine O'Brien, a spokesperson for BPAS, previously told The Mirror: 'In recent years, more than 100 women are believed to have been investigated by the police.'
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She continued: 'These include women who have experienced a late miscarriage or a stillbirth, and women who were pressured to take abortion medication by abusive partners. Women have been arrested straight from hospital wards, their homes searched, their children taken away, all under our cruel and archaic abortion law.'
However, Labour MP Stella Creasy told the Mirror that "decriminalisation isn't enough" and is putting forward a second amendment to make a woman's access to an abortion a human right. Commons Speaker Sir Lindsay Hoyle will decide whether to select one or both amendments for a vote, expect on June 17 and 18.
According to the BBC, Rachael Clarke, head of advocacy at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) told Radio 4's Today programme: "For us, unfortunately, although we truly believe that we need overwhelming and generational change for abortion law, Stella Creasy's amendment is not the right way to do it."
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