MPs are debating two options for decriminalising abortions in England and Wales.
Labour MPs Tonia Antoniazzi and Stella Creasy have tabled rival amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, both aimed at ending police investigations into abortion under a 164-year-old Victorian law.
Abortion is considered an issue of conscience at Westminster, and MPs will not be ordered to follow a party line and can vote according to their beliefs.
Abortion is currently legal up to 24 weeks in Great Britain with the approval of two doctors, but after that point abortion is only allowed under strict conditions.
What is the current law?
Deliberately ending a pregnancy outside of these circumstances remains a criminal offence in England and Wales under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which carries a maximum punishment of life in prison.
Only three women were convicted of having an illegal abortion between 1861 and November 2022, when the law was changed to allow women to take abortion pills at home up to 10 weeks of pregnancy.
This has coincided with both the highest number of abortions since records began, with about a quarter of a million in the latest figures, and an unprecedented number of police inquiries on suspicion of illegally ending a pregnancy.
Records collected by the UK’s largest abortion services have found at least 100 women have been investigated for having an abortion in the last five years, and six have appeared in court.
What are the proposed changes to the law?
Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has called for a law change and has backed an amendment from Antoniazzi, the MP for Gower, which aims to prevent women from being investigated, arrested, prosecuted or imprisoned for terminating their own pregnancies.
She has argued that the investigations are “dehumanising and prolonged and the women forced to endure them are often extraordinarily vulnerable”, including victims of domestic abuse, human trafficking, or women who have given birth prematurely.
Her amendment would maintain punishments for medical professionals and violent partners who end a pregnancy outside of the existing law.
Antoniazzi’s amendment has received the backing from the main abortion providers, as well as the Royal Societies of Pyschiatrists and Nurses.
However, the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children has called it an “extreme and dangerous proposal” that would “effectively decriminalise abortions”.
Stella Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow, wants to go further, enshrining abortion access as a human right and offering “protection to all those involved in ensuring that women can access safe and legal abortions”.
Creasy has argued that Antoniazzi’s amendment would not stop the authorities investigating “the partners of people who had an abortion or the medics who provided the abortions, and it would not prevent demands for women to give evidence as part of that process”.
Creasey’s amendment has been publicly backed by 108 MPs – but abortion providers, including the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, have said the amendment is not the right way to achieve “generational change”.
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children has described Creasy’s amendment as “even more extreme” than that of Antoniazzi’s, adding: “There’s no way to bring an abusive partner who causes the death of an unborn baby to justice.”
Antoniazzi’s amendment will be voted on first – if it is approved, a vote will not take place on Creasy’s alternative proposal.
What did MPs say in the debate?
Setting out her arguments, Antoniazzi flagged that nearly 99% of abortions happen before a pregnancy reaches 20 weeks, leaving just 1% of women “in desperate circumstances”.
She highlighted a series of cases where women had been arrested for illegal abortion offences and urged MPs to support her amendment to recognise “these women need care and support, and not criminalisation”.
“Each one of these cases is a travesty, enabled by our outdated abortion law,” she said.
“Originally passed by an all-male parliament elected by men alone, this Victorian law is increasingly used against vulnerable women and girls.”
Traditional Unionist Voice MP Jim Allister, the MP for North Antrim, intervened to ask whether there was “any other area of law governing the taking of life where the guard rails of the criminal law have been removed”.
Responding, Antoniazzi said her amendment would not change how abortion services are provided and that the 24-week limit would remain.
She added: “Just what public interest is this serving? This is not justice, it is cruelty and it has got to end.”
The Gower MP also criticised an amendment from Conservative shadow health minister Dr Caroline Johnson, which would require a pregnant woman to have an in-person consultation before lawfully being prescribed medication to terminate her pregnancy.
Creasy argued Antoniazzi’s amendment did not go far enough because abortions in some circumstances would still be criminalised.
Arguing that abortion laws were under attack in the UK and around the world, she asked why MPs would want to retain outdated laws “in any shape or form, rather than learning from what is best practice around the world for all of our constituents”.
