UK – MPs propose decriminalising abortion up to 24 weeks

Amendment tabled by cross-party group including Stella Creasy is latest plan to modernise abortion law in England and Wales

Eleni Courea, Political correspondent
Mon 8 Apr 2024

A cross-party group of MPs is proposing to make abortion access a human right in England and Wales, putting forward legislation that would decriminalise abortion up to 24 weeks and introduce protections against access being stripped back.

Proposals to modernise abortion law have been made in the form of amendments to the government’s criminal justice bill, which is due to be debated after parliament returns from its Easter recess later this month. The Commons speaker, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, will choose which ones are voted on. MPs are expected to be given a free vote.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/08/mps-propose-decriminalising-abortion-up-to-24-weeks-england-wales-stella-creasy

UK – Senior Labour figures seeking to water down plans to decriminalise abortion

MPs due to have free vote on proposal but some in party have privately expressed concerns it goes too far

Eleni Courea Political correspondent
Sat 23 Mar 2024

Senior Labour figures want to water down proposed legislation to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales ahead of a historic Commons debate on the issue.

Later this spring, MPs are due to have a free vote on a proposal by the Labour MP Diana Johnson to abolish the criminal offence associated with a woman ending her own pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/mar/23/senior-labour-figures-seeking-water-down-plans-decriminalise-abortion

Northern Ireland’s Abortion Law: An Outdated Norm or a Necessary Protection?

Mason Walker
24 Feb 2024

The Conviction of a 21-year-old Woman
In a tragic turn of events, a 21-year-old woman in Northern Ireland has been convicted for terminating her pregnancy using abortion pills. This conviction makes her the first person to be convicted for illegal abortion in at least a decade. The woman pleaded guilty to 'unlawful procurement of miscarriage' under the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861 and was sentenced to a three-month jail term, suspended for two years.

The Desperate Dilemma of Unwanted Pregnancies

This case brings to the forefront the desperate dilemma faced by women with unwanted pregnancies in Northern Ireland. Legal abortion is limited, forcing many women to resort to dangerous methods such as drinking bleach or throwing themselves down stairs. It is also common for women to travel all the way to England for a termination.

Continued: https://medriva.com/health/northern-irelands-abortion-law-an-outdated-norm-or-a-necessary-protection

24.02.2024

Opinion

1967 Abortion Act

abortion pills

Offences Against the Person Act 1861

prosecuting women for abortion

unlawful procurement of miscarriage

UK – Telling health staff not to report women for suspected illegal abortions has firm legal basis

There is no general obligation to contact police about a crime and the royal college is within its rights to tell its members not to do so

Haroon Siddique, Legal affairs correspondent
Mon 22 Jan 2024

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists’ call for abortion to be decriminalised – and announcement that it will tell its members not to report women to police if they believe they may have illegally ended their pregnancies – is a significant intervention in the debate.

Concerns about the existing laws in England and Wales came to the fore last year when a woman was sentenced to more than two years in prison for procuring drugs to induce an abortion after the legal limit, which is generally 24 weeks.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/22/proposed-guidance-to-health-staff-not-to-report-suspected-pregnancy-termination-to-police-may-be-lawful

UK anti-abortion charity with links to MPs ran misleading Facebook ads

Right to Life UK boosted its spend on the social media platform tenfold in three years

Sian Norris and Manasa Narayanan
Sat 16 Dec 2023

A leading UK anti-abortion charity with ties to MPs and peers has increased its Facebook advertising spend more than tenfold in three years, spending nearly £190,000 on advertising campaigns.

In a joint investigation, the Observer and the Citizens analysed the spend and content of hundreds of Facebook ads paid for by Right to Life UK between June 2020 and November 2023. The findings reveal the charity – which provides the secretariat for the Pro-Life All Party Parliamentary Group – spent an average of £117,000 in 2023, an increase from an average £11,400 in 2020, £16,900 in 2021 and £43,600 in 2022.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2023/dec/16/anti-abortion-charity-misleading-facebook-ads-mps-right-to-life-uk

UK – Calls to change ‘archaic’ abortion law as fifth woman faces court

Hannah Al-Othman and Megan Agnew
Sunday September 24 2023

A woman who has appeared in court accused of having an illegal abortion is the fifth reported to have been prosecuted this year.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, is accused of procuring “poison” — the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol — with intent to cause her own miscarriage. The offence, under section 58 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, is alleged to have been committed in November 2020, during the second coronavirus lockdown.

Continued: https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/calls-to-change-archaic-abortion-law-as-fifth-woman-faces-court-r86x6rjj0

24.09.2023

Offences Against the Person Act 1861

prosecuting women for abortion

self-managed abortion

Teesside woman accused of carrying out own abortion pleads not guilty

Bethany Cox, 22, will face trial next year over offences alleged to have taken place during first Covid lockdown in 2020

Mark Brown, North of England correspondent
Tue 15 Aug 2023

A 22-year-old woman has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging she illegally administered drugs in order to procure an abortion.

Bethany Cox, of Stockton-on-Tees appeared before the recorder of Middlesbrough, Judge Watson KC, at Teesside crown court.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/15/teesside-woman-accused-of-carrying-out-own-abortion-pleads-not-guilty

15.08.2023

News

Bethany Cox

misoprostol

Offences Against the Person Act 1861

Woman in Teesside accused of carrying out own abortion to appear before judge

Bethany Cox, 22, is fourth to be prosecuted on such charges in eight months after only three trials in 160 years, say campaigners

Mark Brown North of England correspondent
Sun 13 Aug 2023

A 22-year-old woman accused of procuring a poison to abort her child shortly after the first Covid lockdown is due to appear before a judge this week.

Bethany Cox is the fourth woman to be prosecuted in the last eight months for allegedly carrying out her own abortion, with only three trials in the 160 years before that, according to campaigners.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/aug/13/woman-teesside-accused-abortion-poison-judge-court

13.08.2023

News

Bethany Cox

Offences Against the Person Act 1861

prosecuting women for abortion

UK – Woman, 22, charged with procuring poison to abort her child

Bethany Cox appears at Teesside magistrates court charged with procuring her own miscarriage shortly after first Covid lockdown

Helen Pidd, North of England editor
Mon 17 Jul 2023

A 22-year-old woman has appeared in court accused of procuring a poison to abort her child shortly after the first Covid lockdown.

Bethany Cox, of Eaglescliffe in Stockton-on-Tees, appeared before Teesside magistrates court on Monday charged with child destruction and procuring her own miscarriage “by poison/use of instrument”.

She is charged under section 58 of the Offences against the Person Act 1861, which makes it an offence for a woman to unlawfully procure her own abortion.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2023/jul/17/woman-22-charged-with-procuring-poison-to-abort-her-child

17.07.2023

News

Bethany Cox

Offences Against the Person Act 1861

procuring a miscarriage

prosecuting women for abortion

self-managed abortion

UK – The fight to repeal one of the most outdated abortion laws in the world

By Sana Noor Haq and Niamh Kennedy, CNN

Fri June 23, 2023

Hundreds of protesters lined the street outside the UK’s High Court on Saturday holding picket signs that read “Our bodies, Our right to decide,” before marching through the streets of central London demanding reformed abortion laws for women in England and Wales.

Earlier this month, a British woman who used medication to terminate a pregnancy after the UK’s legally allowed limit was sentenced to 28 months in prison under Victorian-era legislation, in a case that has sparked calls for an overhaul of reproductive justice laws in the country. The woman, who has three children, will serve 14 months in custody and the remainder on license after her release.

Continued: https://www.cnn.com/2023/06/23/uk/abortion-decriminalization-reproductive-justice-protests-intl-gbr/index.html