Proposals to remove criminal sanctions for abortion in England and Wales are expected to be revived by MPs trying to amend the Crime and Policing Bill. Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi (Gower) said women continue to be at risk of prosecution as the Commons heard 100 have been investigated by police in the last five years.
The 164-year-old law banning abortion was amended in 1967, legalising abortion with an authorised provider up to 28 weeks, which was later lowered to 24 weeks in 1991. There are very limited circumstances that allow an abortion after 24 weeks, such as when the mother’s life is at risk or the child would be born with a severe disability.
But campaigners warn women continue to be criminally prosecuted on suspicion of ending their own pregnancy under the Offences Against the Person Act (OAPA) 1861. In 2019, the UK Parliament backed moves to repeal sections 58 and 59 of OAPA in Northern Ireland – with questions raised about how Westminster would respond to equalise the law across the UK.
An amendment seeking to remove the threat of prosecution against women who act in relation to their own pregnancy at any stage was tabled to the previous Conservative government’s Criminal Justice Bill in 2024. A vote was expected to take place on June 4 last year, but the decision by then-prime minister Rishi Sunak to call a general election meant it was not considered further.
Ms Antoniazzi, speaking as MPs considered the Crime and Policing Bill at second reading, told the Commons on Monday evening: “The law underpinning abortion dates to 1861, before women even had the right to vote. Under this cruel and outdated law, around 100 women have been investigated by the police in the last five years alone. Another woman is set to go on trial in April this year.
“The women caught up in this law are highly vulnerable and often desperate, yet they are subject to the same laws that also apply to violent partners who use physical abuse, coercion or poisoning to end a pregnancy without consent. The law should also be a tool to protect these women, not to punish them for the effects of abuse they have suffered.
“While Westminster voted to repeal the laws that criminalised women in Northern Ireland in 2019, they remain in place in England and Wales. There should be a parity in the law across the United Kingdom so that my constituents have the same rights as my colleagues’ constituents in Northern Ireland.
“Abortion remains a free vote issue and I recognise that any changes to the law in this area must be led by the backbenchers. The policing minister (Dame Diana Johnson) was committed to this change before the election (last year), with colleagues across the House supporting her amendment to remove women from the criminal law.
“I hope that this Bill will provide us with the same opportunity to revisit this issue in the same collegiate way.”
Dame Diana said in response that a free vote on abortion is a matter for the Government chief whip, Sir Alan Campbell. She told the Commons: “All women have access to safe legal abortions on the NHS up to 24 weeks, including taking early medical abortion pills at home where eligible.
“We recognise that this is an extremely sensitive issue and there are strongly held views on all sides of the discussion.”