MPs set to vote on decriminalizing abortion in England

Two U.K. Labour MPs are drawing up amendments on the issue that will likely be considered by the House of Commons this summer.

May 1, 2025
By Dan Bloom

LONDON — The U.K. parliament is set to consider decriminalizing abortion in England and Wales this summer, two people with knowledge of the plans have told POLITICO.

Two backbench Labour MPs are drawing up separate proposals to change the law which would be brought before MPs in the coming months, after previous plans ran out of time before the 2024 general election.

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/mp-vote-decriminalize-abortion-england/

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

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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 – The battle for abortion buffer zones

A 2023 law banning protests around clinics remains unenforced amid dispute over 'silent prayer'

By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK
Aug 20, 2024

In the UK, protests outside clinics or hospitals that perform abortions are, theoretically, banned within a 150-metre "buffer zone". But the legislation has yet to be enforced in England and Wales, and draft guidance published by the last government controversially made allowances for silent prayer within the so-called "safe access zones".

Now, the Home Office is considering reviewing the guidance, reported The Daily Telegraph. Ministers will also review a provision which allows for "consensual" communication with those entering or leaving the premises, which protesters have "interpreted" as permission to hand out leaflets or talk to patients. Abortion rights activists and healthcare providers hope the review will result in both activities being banned as part of Labour's commitment to finally enforce the buffer zones.

Continued: https://theweek.com/health/the-battle-for-abortion-buffer-zones

UK – Buffer zones outside abortion clinics should protect women so why are women still being harassed?

Women are still waiting for the implementation of a new law to stop abortion clinic harassment, despite it being passed more than a year ago.

Sunday 18 August 2024
Olivia Petter

On 3 May last year, things were finally looking up for reproductive rights campaigners. After years of relentless pressure from abortion healthcare providers, the government had signed “buffer zones” into law, subsequently making it an offence to influence, obstruct, or harass those seeking terminations within 150 metres of a clinic.

“We were so relieved,” says Nichola Dowell, the clinical services matron at one such clinic, MSI in Camden, London. For years, she has witnessed the distressing impact that anti-abortion campaigners have on patients. “Abortion should be treated as healthcare, and everyone should be able to access it free from harassment.”

Continued: https://www.independent.co.uk/life-style/women/abortion-buffer-zones-delay-2024-b2596299.html

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

British MPs are attacking abortion rights. We can’t follow the same path as the US

My own traumatic experience shows why we must push back against those who try to chip away at our freedom of choice
Hilary Freeman
Fri 17 May 2024

As the criminal justice bill stumbles through parliament this week – beset by delays and controversies, and picking up amendments as it goes – another woman, Sophie Harvey, is on trial for an alleged illegal abortion, after taking pills to end her pregnancy when she was past the 24-week legal threshold. She was just 19 at the time. She faces a sentence of up to life in prison.

Anyone who cares about women’s rights should be alarmed not just by this trial, but by two new amendments to the bill put forward, targeting abortion in England and Wales. The first, from Caroline Ansell, a Conservative MP, aims to reduce the abortion limit to 22 weeks. The other, tabled by Liam Fox, another Conservative, would stop women’s choice over whether to abort a pregnancy where Down’s syndrome looks likely, up to birth. Currently, she can choose to do so for the entirety of her pregnancy, under ground E of the Abortion Act, which allows for termination if there is “substantial risk that if the child were born it would suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped”.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/article/2024/may/17/uk-decriminalise-abortion-politicians-england-and-wales

17.05.2024

prosecuting women for abortion

UK – James Cleverly opposes moves to cut abortion time limit

Apr 25, 2024
By Nick Eardley & Becky Morton, BBC Politics

Home Secretary James Cleverly has said he opposes attempts to reduce the time limit for abortion. Several MPs are seeking to change the law on abortions through the Criminal Justice Bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament.

But Mr Cleverly urged his colleagues not to pursue the abortion debate as part of the bill before the election. "This is not the kind of bill where we should have something like this," he said. Speaking to journalists in Westminster, he said: "I am pro-choice. Safe and legal access to abortion is incredibly important."

Continued: https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-68900657

25.04.2024

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anti-choice restrictions

On abortion culture wars, Britain takes a different path

As the U.S. grapples with abortion limits, British lawmakers propose scrapping all legal penalties.

APRIL 8, 2024
BY ANNABELLE DICKSON

LONDON — England’s abortion laws could be headed for an overhaul. Brits probably won’t be taking to the streets.

As the United States continues to grapple with the divisive fallout of the 2022 Supreme Court ruling which overturned Roe v. Wade and so ended the federal right to abortion, British lawmakers are gearing up to have their own debate on the hot-button issue.

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/abortion-culture-wars-britain/

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

‘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