United Kingdom Parliament Votes On Controversial Abortion Measure

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The lower house of the United Kingdom’s Parliament voted in favor of a measure to decriminalize some late-term abortions, the biggest reform to Britain’s abortion laws in nearly 60 years.

Abortions have been legal in England and Wales for up to 24 weeks and with the approval of two doctors.

“Abortion in England and Wales is still a criminal offence. Under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, as well as the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929 (which criminalises later abortions), having or providing an abortion remains a crime that carries a life sentence. This is despite these laws having being repealed for Northern Ireland by Westminster in 2019 and 2020,” UK Parliament wrote.

“Women accessing abortion in Great Britain do so under the Abortion Act 1967. But this law did not
decriminalise abortion – it simply made it legal in certain, fixed circumstances. Under current law, abortions must be signed off by two doctors, they must take place in a hospital or premises approved by the Secretary of State for Health, and women must meet one of seven criteria that allows abortion,” it continued.

“Any woman who undergoes an abortion without the permission of two doctors – for example by ordering pills online – can be prosecuted and receive a life sentence as her abortion takes place outside of the provisions of the Act,” it added.

WATCH:

NPR reports:

In a landslide vote late Tuesday, lawmakers in the lower house of British parliament, the House of Commons, endorsed new legislation that bars women in England and Wales from ever being investigated, arrested, prosecuted or imprisoned for terminating their own pregnancies — no matter what term or trimester they’re in. The vote was 379 to 137.

Abortion is allowed up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, and beyond that in certain cases, if the woman’s life is in danger. But abortions have to be approved by two doctors, except for those that are terminated at home within 10 weeks.

Women who’ve ended their pregnancies outside those rules — for example by buying pills online and taking them at home, during the third trimester — have in some cases been prosecuted.

The new law changes that.

One of the most famous cases of women who’ve been prosecuted is that of Nicola Parker, who delivered a stillborn baby at home, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, after taking abortion medicine prescribed by a doctor over the phone when she was about 26 weeks pregnant. At trial, she told jurors she thought she was only six weeks along. She was arrested, jailed — and ultimately acquitted last month.

“The new [law] is about recognizing that these women need care and support, and not criminalization,” the author of an amendment to the new law, MP Tonia Antoniazzi, told Parliament, calling the old law “outdated” and “Victorian.”

“MPs who suppported the introduction of abortion up to birth yesterday cheered as the result was announced. Measures that would put women at risk and likely lead to an increase in late abortions should not be celebrated,” Right to Life UK wrote.

Per CNN:

Tuesday’s vote – which amends a draft policing and crime law – seeks to remove those threats. The amended bill needs to pass through both chambers of the UK parliament before it can become law.

The vast majority of Britons believe women should have the right to an abortion, according to YouGov surveys stretching back to 2019. The latest poll, conducted in April, showed that 88% of respondents supported that right.

Britain’s vote comes as its ally across the Atlantic has dramatically restricted abortion rights. Since the US Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade in 2022 – which had enshrined abortion as a constitutional right – many US states have introduced severe restrictions or outright bans on the practice. The changes have completely upended the landscape of reproductive health and choice in America.



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