UK – Parliament takes a historic step toward decriminalising abortion—but the work isn’t over

The recent shake-up of abortion laws in England and Wales marks an important moment for abortion rights, but full decriminalisation remains essential

BMJ 2025; 389 doi: https://doi.org/10.1136/bmj.r1348 (Published 30 June 2025)
Jayne Kavanagh, co-chair, Hayley Webb, co-chair

We welcomed the passing of amendment NC1 in parliament on 17 June, which will put a stop to the criminalisation of anyone who ends their own pregnancy in England and Wales. This is a landmark step forward for reproductive rights and justice. In recent years, increasing numbers of women have been investigated and prosecuted under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act.1 This Victorian-era law was enacted before women even had the right to vote and carried a maximum sentence of life imprisonment for “unlawful abortion.”

More than 100 women are believed to have been investigated since 2020 for allegedly ending or attempting to end their pregnancies outside the parameters of the 1967 Abortion Act, which set out legal exemptions for abortion.2 Many endured distressing and intrusive investigations, faced enormous legal costs, and suffered lasting psychological, financial, and reputational harm—repercussions that also deeply affected their families.

Continued: https://www.bmj.com/content/389/bmj.r1348

Fact Check: British MPs have not voted to legalise abortion up to birth

By Reuters Fact Check
June 25, 2025

British members of parliament have voted to decriminalise abortions for women, not legalise all abortion up to birth, contrary to online posts using the different legal terms interchangeably.

MPs backed a Crime and Policing Bill amendment, opens new tab on June 17 that would mean criminal penalties would no longer apply in England and Wales to women who abort their own pregnancies.

Labour MPs have voted in favour of legalising abortion up to birth," said a June 18 post, referring to the vote.

Continued; https://www.reuters.com/fact-check/british-mps-have-not-voted-legalise-abortion-up-birth-2025-06-25/

25.06.2025

1967 Abortion Act

anti-choice disinformation

anti-choice hypocrisy

anti-choice lies

Crime and Policing bill

Infant Life Preservation Act 1929

Offences Against the Person Act 1861

UK – Yes, Abortion Has Been Decriminalised, But The Law Needs To Go Further

By Nell Frizzell
21 June 2025

Around one in four women in the UK have an abortion during their lifetime. But that doesn’t mean abortion has been legal in this country; it hasn’t. Every person who has had an abortion has stepped into legal waters that are murky, if not outright dangerous. This week’s vote to decriminalise abortion, though the greatest reform to abortion laws in 60 years, still hasn’t legalised it; those one in four women still do not have true control over their bodies.

Under the Offences Against the Person Act, which came into power in 1861 (before women even had the vote, as many commentators have pointed out), as well as the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 (which criminalises later abortions), having or providing an abortion was a crime that could carry a life sentence. A life sentence. Do you ever just get the feeling that you’ve been living in an alternative universe? That black has been pink and water has in fact been solid all along? I do. Reading about the history of abortion law in this country is one the most extravagant exercises in bewilderment I’ve ever undertaken.

Continued: https://www.vogue.co.uk/article/abortion-law-change-uk

22.06.2025

Commentary

1967 Abortion Act

decriminalisation of abortion

Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929

Nell Frizzell

Nigel Farage

Offences Against the Person Act 1861

MPs vote to decriminalise abortion for women in England and Wales

June 17, 2025
Jennifer McKiernan

MPs have voted to change abortion legislation to stop women in England and Wales being prosecuted for ending their pregnancy.

The landslide vote to decriminalise the procedure is the biggest change to abortion laws in England and Wales for nearly 60 years.

Women who terminate their pregnancy outside the rules, for example after 24 weeks, will no longer be at risk of being investigated by police.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c2le12114j9o

UK – In 1961, my abortion was unmentionable; why next week’s vote is important.

Diane Munday had an abortion in 1961. Here she explains to Sofia Fenton why she dedicated her life to reforming the law.

By Sofia Fenton and Diane Munday
16 June 2025

When the 1967 Abortion Act passed, I sat on the terrace of the House of Commons with my fellow campaigners and marked the moment with half a glass of champagne. Half because it was only a partial victory – I felt it was a necessary compromise but that the job was far from finished.

One in three women will have an abortion in her lifetime. Yet abortion has not been decriminalised. A woman must get the sign-off of two doctors. Two doctors who have likely never seen her before nor will they see her again but are strangers making one of the most important decisions of someone’s life. It was a requirement I opposed even in the 1960s – but it was the price of getting the bill through Parliament.

Continued: https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/uk/lifestyle/a65075635/diane-munday-abortion-bill/

16.06.2025

Opinion

1861 Offences against the Person Act

Everything you need to know ahead of an important UK vote on abortion next week

Under a Victorian law, abortion is still technically illegal in the UK – here's what is happening to fight that

By Marie-Claire Chappet
12 June 2025

Many living in the UK may be unaware that, though abortions can be accessed safely and legally in this country, abortion is – at least technically – still illegal. This is because of a preexisting law from 1861, a legal quirk that an upcoming parliamentary vote hopes to resolve.

All abortions that take place in the UK are only available under the 1967 Abortion Act, which sets out certain parameters – such as the time period in which one can have a termination and that requests must have medical approval. This means that any abortion which happens outside of these restrictions is a criminal act, subject to lengthy jail time. The 1861 law serves as the legal framework. The 1967 act is the exception.

Continued: https://www.harpersbazaar.com/uk/culture/culture-news/a65034495/uk-vote-on-abortion/

12.06.2025

News

1967 Abortion Act

abortion law reform

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Katherine O’Brien

MSI Reproductive Choices

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

MPs set to vote on decriminalising abortion in England and Wales

June 10, 2025
Brian Wheeler, Nick Triggle

Women would no longer be prosecuted for terminating a pregnancy in England and Wales under a proposed shake-up of abortion laws.

MPs are set to get a free vote next week - meaning they will not be told how to vote by their party - on a change to the law.

It comes amid concern more women are being investigated by police on suspicion of illegally ending a pregnancy.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cg5v900v1y6o

10.06.2025

News

1967 Abortion Act

abortion law reform

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Nicola Packer

Offences Against the Person Act of 1861

Rachael Clarke

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

UK – ‘Isn’t abortion legal in the UK?’ Your questions around the need to decriminalise abortion answered

We're campaigning to have abortion decriminalised in England and Wales. Here's everything you need to know, answered

By Catriona Innes
27 May 2025

Last week, we, alongside UK abortion provider BPAS, launched a powerful new campaign, to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales.

While safe and legal abortions are available to most in the UK - roughly one in three women will have one in their lifetime - there’s been a worrying rise in criminal cases being brought under a Victorian law dating back to 1861.

Continued: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a64860406/campaign-ama/

Inside the fight to decriminalise abortion in the UK

More than 50 MPs have backed an amendment to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales. But does it offer real change, and why is it being championed by those with anti-trans sentiments?

Halima Jibril
May 19, 2025

Last Wednesday (May 14), more than 50 cross-party MPs backed an amendment proposing to “decriminalise” abortion in England and Wales. Put forward by Welsh Labour Party MP, Tonia Antoniazzi, the amendment seeks to remove “women from criminal law related to abortion” and would mean “no offence is committed by a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy”. MPs were set to vote on the amendment last summer, but parliament dissolved ahead of the 2024 general election.

The landscape of abortion in the UK is more complex than one might think. Abortion is technically “legal” in England, Scotland and Wales, and yet it is also a criminal offence. Below is an explainer on the 164-year-old law that makes abortion a criminal offence, what the amendment is fighting to change (and keep the same) and if activists and campaigners believe the amendment goes far enough in protecting people’s right to an abortion in the UK.

Continued: https://www.dazeddigital.com/life-culture/article/66834/1/inside-the-fight-to-decriminalise-abortion-in-the-uk-england-wales

UK – The Guardian view on abortion prosecutions: decriminalisation can’t wait

The trial of Nicola Packer shows why MPs should seize the opportunity to change the law and safeguard vulnerable women now

Editorial
Wed 14 May 2025

The Crown Prosecution Service has yet to explain why it thought that pursuing a case against Nicola Packer was in the public interest. Thankfully, jurors last week cleared the 45-year-old of illegally terminating her pregnancy. But more than four years of police and criminal proceedings have had a lasting impact on a woman already traumatised by discovering that she was 26 weeks pregnant, not about 10, when she acted. The trial dragged her private life – even her sexual preferences – into the public eye. Understandably, she called it “humiliating”. But it is prosecutors who should feel shame.

Ms Packer was prescribed abortion pills in a remote consultation, due to a Covid lockdown. Prosecutors alleged that she deliberately breached the abortion time limit. Jurors believed Ms Packer, who said that she was horrified to realise how advanced her pregnancy was when she saw the foetus and that she “wouldn’t have put the baby or myself through it” had she known.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/may/14/the-guardian-view-on-abortion-prosecutions-decriminalisation-cant-wait

14.05.2025