LONDON, United Kingdom — UK MPs are expected to vote Tuesday on an overhaul of abortion laws in England and Wales which would end contentious prosecutions of women for terminating a pregnancy.
Currently, a woman can face criminal charges for choosing to end a pregnancy after 24 weeks or without the approval of two doctors, under laws which technically still carry a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
The issue has gained attention in the UK due to recent court cases. In one a woman was cleared by a jury at trial, while another was released from prison on appeal.
A proposal put forward by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi seeks to change the law to ensure that no woman would be committing an offence by terminating her own pregnancy at any time.
“Women are currently being arrested from hospital bed to police cell and facing criminal investigations on suspicion of ending their own pregnancy,” Antoniazzi told AFP.
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“My amendment would put a stop to this,” she said, adding it was “the right amendment at the right time.”
Abortion in England and Wales is a criminal offence under the Offences Against the Person Act, passed in 1861 during the Victorian age and which carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.
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The Abortion Act 1967 made terminations legal in certain circumstances, including by permitting it up to 23 weeks and six days of gestation if done by an authorised provider.
Abortions are allowed in limited circumstances after this time, such as if the mother’s life is in danger or there is a “substantial risk” the child could be born with a serious disability.
An update to the law introduced during the Covid-19 pandemic allows women to take abortion pills at home up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy.
In May, Nicola Packer was acquitted after taking prescribed abortion medicine when she was around 26 weeks pregnant, beyond the legal limit of 10 weeks for taking such medication at home.
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The 45-year-old told jurors during her trial, which came after a four-year police investigation, that she did not realise she had been pregnant for so long.
“It was horrendous giving evidence, absolutely awful,” she told The Guardian newspaper last month.
The Society for the Protection of Unborn Children has however called the proposed amendment “the greatest threat to unborn babies in decades.”
‘Optimistic’
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Antoniazzi’s amendment would not change any of the laws regarding the provision of abortion services, including the time limits.
And anyone assisting a woman in getting an abortion outside the remits of the law, such as medical practitioners, would still be liable for prosecution.
Some 50 organisations, including abortion providers, medical colleges, and women’s rights groups, have backed the amendment.
They say six women have appeared in court in England charged with ending or attempting to end their own pregnancy outside abortion law in the last three years.
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Carla Foster was jailed in 2023 for illegally obtaining abortion tablets to end her pregnancy when she was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant. The Court of Appeal eventually suspended her sentence.
Some 140 MPs in the 650-seat parliament have publicly backed the change.
It “has widespread support from MPs across the political spectrum and I am optimistic the Commons will support it,” said Antoniazzi.
Lawmakers will have a free vote, meaning they can decide based on their views, not what their party tells them.
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Northern Ireland decriminalised abortion for women in 2019. Scotland is currently reviewing its abortion laws.
