U.K. lawmakers consider decriminalizing abortion amid concern about increasing prosecution of women

A view outside the Houses of Parliament, in London. File
| Photo Credit: AP

British lawmakers debated proposals Tuesday to decriminalize abortion amid concerns that police are using antiquated laws to prosecute women who end their own pregnancies.

Two amendments to a broader crime bill that would bar the prosecution of women who take steps to end their pregnancies at any stage were put before members of the House of Commons.

Tonia Antoniazzi, the Labour member of Parliament who introduced one of the amendments, said change is needed because police have investigated more than 100 women for suspected illegal abortions over the past five years, including some who suffered natural miscarriages and stillbirths.

“This piece of legislation will only take women out of the criminal justice system because they are vulnerable and they need our help,” she said. “Just what public interest is this serving? This is not justice, it is cruelty and it has got to end.”

Doctors can legally carry out abortions in England, Scotland and Wales up to 24 weeks, and beyond that under special circumstances, such as when the life of the mother is in danger. Abortion in Northern Ireland was decriminalized in 2019.

Changes in the law implemented during the COVID-19 pandemic allow women to receive abortion pills through the mail and terminate their own pregnancies at home within the first 10 weeks.

That has led to a handful of widely publicized cases in which women were prosecuted for illegally obtaining abortion pills and using them to end their own pregnancies after 24 weeks or more.

A second amendment would go even further than Antoniazzi’s proposal, barring the prosecution of medical professionals and others who help women abort their fetuses.

Anti-abortion groups oppose both measures, arguing that they will open the door to abortion on demand at any stage of pregnancy.

“Unborn babies will have any remaining protection stripped away, and women will be left at the mercy of abusers,” said Alithea Williams, public policy manager for the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, which describes itself as the U.K.’s biggest pro-life campaign group.