It’s official: No woman in England or Wales can be prosecuted for an abortion any more

Decriminalisation explained (and no, this does *not* mean 'abortion is now legal up until birth')

By Jennifer Savin
29 April 2026

After years of campaigning, England and Wales have officially decriminalised abortion for women in a “landmark moment” as part of proposed changes to the Crime and Policing Bill.

The government has now formally done away with the ancient Offences Against the Person Act from 1861 and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act of 1929, both of which saw women and girls open to arrest, investigation or prosecution in relation to procuring an abortion for themselves. Recent years have seen a worrying increase in criminal cases, after minimal incidences for decades, as more anti-abortion groups receive funding in the UK.

Continued: https://www.cosmopolitan.com/uk/reports/a71163004/england-wales-decriminalise-abortion/

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

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

Editorial

1967 Abortion Act

British Medical Association

Crown Prosecution Service

decriminalisation of abortion

Leading voices call for decriminalisation of women ending their own pregnancies

The new proposals would bring English and Welsh law in line with Northern Ireland where abortion was fully decriminalised in 2020, and also countries including France and Canada.

By Mollie Malone, home news correspondent
Sunday 12 January 2025
With Video – 3:19 minutes

More than 30 organisations are urging parliament to remove the threat of criminal investigation and prosecution for women who end their own pregnancies in England and Wales.

A joint statement, signed by leading abortion care providers and institutions including the British Medical Association, Women's Aid, and the Royal College of Gynaecologists, asks politicians to relook at the law to prevent women who are suspected of ending their own pregnancy outside of the legal abortion limits, from being criminally pursued.

Continued: https://news.sky.com/story/leading-voices-call-for-the-decriminalisation-of-women-ending-their-own-pregnancies-13287119

UK – ‘Unprecedented’ rise in abortion prosecutions prompts call for law change from medical leaders

Statement from groups including BMA and royal colleges says current law is causing ‘trauma and cruelty’

Shanti Das, The Guardian
Sun 12 Jan 2025

Medical leaders are calling for reform of abortion laws in England and Wales after an “unprecedented” rise in women and girls being prosecuted for ending their own pregnancies.

More than 30 groups – including the British Medical Association, the Faculty of Public Health, the British Society of Abortion Care Providers and the royal colleges of GPs, nurses, psychiatrists, midwives and anaesthetists – issued a joint statement warning that the current legislation is causing “trauma and cruelty” and demanding “immediate action” to safeguard reproductive rights.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/jan/12/unprecedented-rise-in-abortion-prosecutions-prompts-call-for-law-change-from-medical-leaders

12.01.2025

News

1967 Abortion Act

Bethany Cox

British Medical Association

British Society of Abortion Care Providers

Carla Foster

criminalisation of abortion

Faculty of Public Health

Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health

Offences Against the Person Act

prosecuting women for abortion

RCOG

Royal College of General Practitioners

Royal College of Nursing

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

telemedicine abortion

Women’s Aid and Liberty

UK – How socialists won unions to fighting for abortion rights

Sheila McGregor was a women’s organiser for the International Socialists, forerunners of the Socialist Workers Party, in the 1970s. She looks at how socialists and trade unionists argued for abortion rights

Sept 2, 2024

An overwhelming majority of people in Britain support abortion rights. This wouldn’t be the case if socialists hadn’t won an argument that abortion rights are a class issue which unions must fight for in every workplace.

In the 1970s the right organised a backlash to the 1967 Abortion Act. Religious bigots had set up the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (Spuc). And in the 1970s it was capable of mobilising tens of thousands of men and women onto the streets to oppose abortion rights.

Continued: https://socialistworker.co.uk/features/how-socialists-won-unions-to-fighting-for-abortion-rights/

03.09.2024

1967 Abortion Act

Barbara Castle

British Medical Association

International Socialists

James White

Jean Lewis

Linda Gordon

National Abortion Campaign

Sheila McGregor

Socialist Workers Party

Society for the Protection of the Unborn Child

SPUC

Terry Marsland

trade unions and abortion rights

UK – ‘Deeply sinister’: Police testing women who have miscarriages for abortion drugs

Maya Oppenheim, Women’s Correspondent
Nov 2, 2023

Police are testing “distressed” women who have suffered miscarriages for abortion drugs, healthcare providers have warned. Medical professionals argue it is “deeply sinister” to test women who have endured a miscarriage who are suspected of illegal abortions for the drugs – arguing it adds to the guilt and stigma women routinely experience after pregnancy loss.

In one document, seen by The Independent, a bodily fluid sample was sent to a forensics lab to be analysed for a range of drugs – including the abortion drugs mifepristone and misoprostol. Another reveals a woman who agreed to allow police to have access to samples of her bodily fluids taken by NHS staff.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/police-testing-abortion-drugs-miscarriage-b2439733.html

UK – Guernsey woman says abortion booked ‘without my permission’

Oct 5, 2023
By John Fernandez, BBC Guernsey political reporter

A mother has spoken out about how she felt poorly treated by the Medical Specialist Group (MSG), prompting her to seek out a second opinion elsewhere.

Soozy Jenner's baby Grace was diagnosed with a life-threatening condition while in the womb. Mrs Jenner, from Guernsey, said she was then booked in by doctors at the MSG for an abortion without her consent.

The MSG said: "No patient can be booked in for a procedure without their consent."

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-guernsey-67011336

05.10.2023

News

anencephaly

British Medical Association

Dr Sandie Bohin

Medical Specialist Group

UK – The Guardian view on abortion law: the case for decriminalisation

The outrage caused by the jailing of a mother for ending her pregnancy after the legal limit should spark a wider rethink of archaic legislation

Editorial
Tue 13 Jun 2023

The case of a mother prosecuted for inducing her own abortion after the legal limit is tragic. Her imprisonment is unconscionable. The judge accepted that she was in “emotional turmoil” when she ended her pregnancy at between 32 and 34 weeks: with lockdown imposed, she had moved back in with her estranged partner while carrying another man’s child and was seeking to hide the pregnancy. She has since experienced guilt and depression, and is plagued by nightmares and “flashbacks to seeing [her] dead child’s face”. Her three children, one of whom has special needs and is thus especially reliant upon her, will be denied her for the next 14 months.
decri
Many have asked good questions about the decisions of prosecutors to pursue the case in these circumstances, and of the judge to impose a prison sentence. Nonetheless, as the judge identified, ultimately the issue is the law itself.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2023/jun/13/the-guardian-view-on-abortion-law-the-case-for-decriminalisation

13.06.2023

Editorial

British Medical Association

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

decriminalisation of abortion

jailing women for abortion

UK doctors call for free abortions for Americans unable to access them

British Medical Association votes to lobby UK government on the issue after an emergency debate on the overturning of Roe v Wade

Tom Ambrose
Thu 30 Jun 2022

Americans who cannot access abortions should be offered free services in the UK, British doctors have said.

In an emergency debate in response to the US supreme court’s decision to overturn the Roe v Wade ruling, the British Medical Association (BMA) agreed to lobby the UK government on the issue.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2022/jun/30/uk-doctors-call-free-abortions-americans-roe-v-wade

30.06.2022