UK / Northern Ireland – We deserve five-star reproductive rights

MPs missed a chance to remove the threat of prosecution from anyone helping families make decisions about their own lives. With the far right on the march, it’s time to defend our rights.

By Emma Campbell
June 28, 2025

Campaigners were celebrating last week as the UK parliament took the first step to defend reproductive rights. But, as an abortion activist working here in Belfast, I was frustrated at a lack of willingness to fix the problems with the amendment. Even if it becomes law, the work that I do every day helping people here in Northern Ireland would still see me facing criminal charges if I did it in England and Wales.

I’ve been fighting for reproductive rights for 15 years and helping people access abortions much longer. When we started talking about removing the threat of prosecution from people making decisions about their lives and their families, non-governmental organisations around us were convinced we would never change the law in our lifetime. But when we’re striving for change we need hopeful imagination.

Continued: https://goodlawproject.org/emma-campbell-we-deserve-five-star-reproductive-rights/


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


Abortion remains a criminal offence in the UK because of the left’s timidity. We must learn from that – and fast

Tuesday’s vote in parliament was a missed opportunity – and proof that progressives are allowing the right to shape the key debates

Stella Creasy
Wed 18 Jun 2025

Around the world, the antis are joining forces. Whether anti-abortion, anti-transgender, anti-immigrant, anti-human rights or just anti anyone who doesn’t look like them, they are collaborating; amplifying one another and sharing their political and cultural successes. Their rhetoric now dominates our discussions, and increasingly our ballot boxes. In response, some argue caution or even capitulation – as if we can stop the public being dragged to the extremes if we speak in hushed tones or water down our ambitions for social justice. As we witness the consequences of this, it is time to speak up for those values that drive us to show that another future is possible.

On Tuesday, parliament had the opportunity to set abortion in England and Wales on the same modern, regulated footing as it is in Northern Ireland: as a human right. Instead, a vote on this was explicitly blocked by the providers of this service and their supporters, telling MPs to back another amendment, to get a single exemption from prosecution for women “over the line” instead. That is what happened. In contrast, my proposed amendment would have gone further, offering “protection to all those involved in ensuring that women can access safe and legal abortions”.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/18/abortion-criminal-offence-uk-parliament-progressives


MPs vote to decriminalize abortion, the English way. What will the US say?

UK MPs voted Tuesday to decriminalize abortion for women in England and Wales, but they’re wary of the U.S.’s divisive debate.

June 17, 2025
By Dan Bloom

LONDON — U.K. MPs just liberalized a 164-year-old abortion law with typical British understatement. Now, to hope that Donald Trump’s America doesn’t notice.

The House of Commons voted 379-137 Tuesday night to remove criminal sanctions for women having their own abortion in England and Wales, partially unpicking a law passed in 1861.

Continued: https://www.politico.eu/article/uk-abortion-decriminalization-united-states-donald-trump/


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


Abortion laws in England and Wales face biggest shake-up in nearly 60 years

Parliament set to vote on decriminalising abortion, with rival amendments submitted by two Labour MPs

Hannah Al-Othman North of England correspondent
Mon 16 Jun 2025

Parliament is set to vote on whether to decriminalise abortion on Tuesday, in what would be the biggest shake-up to reproductive rights in England and Wales in almost 60 years.

Fierce battles have been fought behind the scenes, with Labour backbenchers Tonia Antoniazzi and Stella Creasy lobbying in an effort to have their rival amendments taken forward for a vote.

It is understood only one will be voted on, and with Antoniazzi’s being the lead amendment on the order paper, it is more than likely that hers will be selected.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/16/abortion-laws-in-england-and-wales-face-biggest-shake-up-in-nearly-60-years


British women are being jailed under archaic abortion laws. MPs can act to end that this week

Women will really have the right to choose if politicians vote to revoke this Victorian-era legislation

Frances Ryan
Mon 16 Jun 2025

You might have seen their faces. Every few months nowadays, another woman appears in a British newspaper charged with a suspected illegal abortion. Often the woman looks pale and gaunt. Sometimes she hides behind sunglasses as she bows her head. The photographs of these women walking into court feel akin to a public shaming, where the stocks are replaced by a breaking news banner, but the judgment remains the same.

If this sounds like a punishment from a different time, it’s because it is. The law that’s largely used to prosecute women for a suspected illegal abortion was written in 1861 – that’s before women had the right to vote or own property independently. While the Abortion Act in 1967 gave widespread access to abortion, it was never made fully legal on the statute books.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/jun/16/abortion-law-injustice-mps-can-act-to-revoke-legislation-this-week


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


UK – Creasy attempt to change abortion law ‘not supported by service providers’

British Pregnancy Advisory Service says NC20 amendment to criminal justice bill ‘not right way’ to overhaul the law

Hannah Al-Othman
Tue 10 Jun 2025

An attempt to change the law on abortion led by the Labour MP Stella Creasy is not supported by “any of the abortion providers in the country”, a leading pro-choice charity has said.

Rachael Clarke, the head of advocacy at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas), said Creasy’s NC20 amendment to the criminal justice bill “is not the right way” to overhaul abortion laws.

Bpas is instead backing a separate proposal, NC1, put forward by another Labour backbencher, Tonia Antoniazzi.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/world/2025/jun/10/creasy-attempt-to-change-abortion-law-not-supported-by-abortion-providers-bpas


UK – London mayor reverses TfL ban on ads calling for abortion decriminalization

Sadiq Khan seeking ‘urgent review’ of decision to ban adverts from British Pregnancy Advisory Service

Hannah Al-Othman North of England correspondent
Mon 2 Jun 2025

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has stepped in to reverse a ban on adverts on the London transport network calling for abortion to be decriminalised.

It is understood that the mayor is seeking an “urgent review” of a Transport for London (TfL) decision to ban the adverts from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas) charity on the grounds they may bring the Metropolitan police into disrepute.

Continued: https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/jun/02/london-mayor-reverses-tfl-ban-on-ads-abortion-decriminalisation