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

Calls for abortion law change in England after couple sentenced for buying pills

Campaigners say case of Sophie Harvey and her partner exposes harmful and unnecessary criminalisation of women

Hannah Al-Othman and Steven Morris
Thu 19 Dec 2024

The prosecution of a young couple who were handed community orders at Gloucester crown court more than six years after the stillbirth of a baby has led to renewed calls for abortion law reform in England.

Sophie Harvey and Elliot Benham, both now 25, were originally arrested on suspicion of murder after they disposed of a stillborn foetus. The couple, who were each 19 at the time, had sought a termination for an unwanted pregnancy, before discovering that Harvey was “too far gone” – beyond the legal time limit – with gestation estimated to be at about 28 weeks and five days.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/19/calls-abortion-law-change-england-couple-sentenced-buying-pills

UK – Couple who bought abortion pills online given community orders

Sophie Harvey and Elliot Benham denied using the pills and said their child had been stillborn

Hannah Al-Othman and Steven Morris
Wed 18 Dec 2024

A man and woman who were accused of buying pills to induce an illegal abortion have been sentenced to community orders. Sophie Harvey, 25, had previously stood trial accused of procuring her own miscarriage when she was 19.

Prosecutors had alleged she took the medication after learning she was at 28 weeks and five days gestation – meaning she could not get a legal abortion in England as she was beyond the 24-week cutoff.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/dec/18/man-and-woman-sentenced-illegal-abortion

‘I felt like a criminal’: Record number of women facing illegal abortion investigations

One woman says she's still struggling with the impact the police investigation had on her life, even though the case has now been dropped.

By Mollie Malone, news correspondent
Monday 17 June 2024

Sarah's front room is filled with pictures of her smiling baby. He's now 18 months old. But for almost a year, she was investigated on suspicion of illegally trying to abort him.

In January 2023, Sarah (not her real name) had just delivered her baby prematurely. She called 999 but before paramedics turned up, police came knocking at her door.

"The front room was just full of police," Sarah tells Sky News. "I felt like a criminal."

Continued: https://news.sky.com/story/i-felt-like-a-criminal-record-number-of-women-facing-illegal-abortion-investigations-13153079

17.06.2024

News

at home abortion

Bpas

British Society of Abortion Care Providers

Calum Miller

Jonathan Lord

Lucie Baylis

prosecuting women for abortion

Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists

UK anti-abortion campaigners running against MPs who back decriminalization

Seat of Labour’s Stella Creasy among those challenged by activists running as independents in the general election

Eve Livingston
Sat 15 Jun 2024
Anti-abortion campaigners are running as independent candidates in the general election against prominent MPs seeking re-election who supported decriminalisation.

The seats of Labour’s Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy and Conservative Caroline Nokes are all being targeted by anti-abortion activists. The three proposed or supported recent amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill which would have stopped prosecutions for anyone ending a pregnancy in England and Wales.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/jun/15/uk-anti-abortion-campaigners-running-against-mps-who-back-decriminalisation

Women from Wales have to travel to England for abortions

May 4, 2024
Kate Morgan, Communities correspondent

A woman who had to travel from Wales to England for an abortion says it made her experience more traumatic. Katie, 35 and from Cardiff, was thrilled to be pregnant with her first child, but a routine scan found a significant abnormality meaning her baby could not survive.

An abortion locally would have involved giving birth in a labour ward full of mothers and newborn babies, and Katie had to travel over the border for a surgical procedure.

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cv29xplk851o

04.05.2024

News

British Pregnancy Advisory Service

British Society of Abortion Care Providers

Dr Caroline Scherf

Hanna Andersen

traveling for abortion

traveling to England for abortion

Viv Rose

Women’s Equality party

‘Extreme’ US anti-abortion group ramps up lobbying in Westminster

The UK branch of the Alliance Defending Freedom has increased its spending and is forging ties with key MPs

Shanti Das, Home affairs correspondent
Sat 6 Apr 2024

A rightwing Christian lobby group that wants abortion to be banned has forged ties with an adviser to the prime minister and is drawing up policy briefings for politicians.

The UK branch of the US-based Alliance Defending Freedom (ADF) has more than doubled its spending since 2020 and been appointed a stakeholder in a parliamentary group on religious freedoms in a role that grants it direct access to MPs.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/apr/06/extreme-us-anti-abortion-group-ramps-up-lobbying-in-westminster

As France makes abortion a constitutional right, UK women see sharp rise in abortion convictions

A law dating from 1861 is being used to prosecute women in England and Wales, in at least one case leading to incarceration.

March 4, 2024
By: Lara BULLENS

France has become the only country in the world to protect the right to terminate a pregnancy in its constitution after abortion access was officially added to the freedoms guaranteed in the French constitution on Monday. The move was a direct reaction to the rollback of abortion rights in the United States and elsewhere.

But across the English Channel, women are still at risk of prosecution for having the procedure because abortion in the UK has not been decriminalised. Britain is facing a sharp rise in abortion convictions, with a law dating from 1861 being used to prosecute women and in at least one case leading to incarceration.

Continued: https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20240304-france-abortion-constitution-right-uk-woman-sharp-rise-abortion-convictions-england

UK – Health chiefs voice fears over MP’s move to cut abortion limit

Exclusive: President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists said they are against any reduction in abortion time limits

Maya Oppenheim, Women’s Correspondent
March 3, 2024

Fears have been raised that proposals to reduce the abortion deadline by two weeks could inflict cruelty on vulnerable women and actually increase the number of pregnancy terminations.

The warnings come after Tory MP Caroline Ansell proposed an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to decrease the legal limit to have an abortion from the current deadline of 24 weeks to 22 weeks – with MPs set to vote on the proposals in due course.

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/abortion-laws-cut-limit-24-weeks-b2504825.html