WOMEN should not be criminalised for having an abortion, but it is “worrying” that a change in law approved by MPs this week could lead to more late-term abortions, a spokesperson for Church House, Westminster, has said.
On Tuesday, MPs voted by 379 to 137 in favour of an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill brought by the Labour MP for Gower, Tonia Antoniazzi. This disapplies existing criminal law relating to abortion from women “acting in relation to her own pregnancy”. The amendment does not change any law regarding the provision of abortion within a healthcare setting.
Critical of “outdated abortion law”, Ms Antoniazzi told the story of Nicola Parker, who was charged with procuring an illegal abortion after taking abortion pills when 26 weeks pregnant. The pills were sent via the pills-by-post system established during the Covid-19 pandemic. She was acquitted after her defence made the case that she had believed that she was only six weeks pregnant. Ms Antoniazzi also told the story of a young mother criminalised for an abortion after her partner “coerced her into taking abortion pills bought illegally online”, and of another woman under investigation for a year after giving birth prematurely.
“Some women in desperate circumstances make choices that many of us would struggle to understand. . . Such women need care and support, not criminalisation,” she said.
Among those who opposed the amendment was the Conservative MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham, Dr Caroline Johnson, a consultant paediatrician. She moved an amendment to end the provision of abortion via telemedicine, so that a woman would need to have an in-person consultation before lawfully being prescribed the medicine. “If we have proper clinics, gestation can be checked, a clinician can ascertain more effectively if a woman is being coerced, and they can make the abortion medically as safe as possible,” she said. It was lost by 117 to 379.
On Wednesday, a Church House spokesperson said: “This is a highly complex and emotive issue. Whilst women ought not to be criminalised, it is worrying that this very significant change to the law may lead to more late-term abortions, including sex-selective abortions. So it is right that providing an abortion outside the amended 1967 Act remains a criminal offence for abortion providers. We recognise that this is a hugely difficult and important decision for women which is not taken lightly, and we must ensure that they are given the care and support that they need.”
The RC Archbishop of Liverpool, the Most Revd John Sherrington, said: “This decision significantly reduces the protection of unborn lives and will result in grave harm for pregnant women. Women will be even more vulnerable to manipulation, coerced, and forced abortions. This legal change will also discourage medical consultation and make the use of abortion pills for dangerous late-term, at-home abortions more likely.”
Half the women accessing abortion in England and Wales now use the “telemedical” system, made permanent in 2022. There are currently about 250,000 abortions a year.