The House of Commons voted to create statutory immunity from prosecution for women who terminate their pregnancies, fundamentally altering the criminal law framework that has governed abortion in England and Wales since 1861. The current legislation criminalises ‘procuring a miscarriage’ with a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
This represents the first substantive change to the underlying criminal prohibition since the Abortion Act 1967, which provided a statutory defence when specific conditions are met. The amendments will not change any law regarding abortion services within healthcare settings, including time limits, telemedicine, grounds for abortion, or the requirement for two doctors’ approval.
Setting out her arguments in Parliament, MP Tonia Antoniazzi flagged that nearly 99% of abortions happen before 20 weeks, leaving just 1% of women ‘in desperate circumstances.’ The changes will not become law until the bill in its entirety passes through the House of Commons and House of Lords, and receives royal assent. The decision to prosecute remains in the hands of the Police and Crown Prosecution Service.
The amendment was backed by all major abortion providers, 180 MPs, and 50 organisations, including the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists. RCOG President Prof Ranee Thakar welcomed the vote, stating: ‘This sends a powerful signal that women’s rights and autonomy matter. The College has been campaigning to see this achieved for many years, and the decision reflects the voices of over 50 medical, legal, and public health organisations. It also reflects the views of the public, who overwhelmingly support the right of women to access abortion care safely, confidentially, and without fear of investigation and prosecution.’
However, Conservative MP Rebecca Paul warned, ‘if this becomes law, fully developed babies up to term could be aborted by a woman with no consequences.’
The amendment removes criminal liability for women under Section 58 of the 1861 Act. Nicola Packer was recently acquitted of all charges after terminating her pregnancy. The BBC reports that she was taken from hospital to a police cell after delivering a stillborn baby at home after taking prescribed abortion medicine at around 26 weeks pregnant. After more than four years of police investigation, she told the court that she did not realize she had been pregnant for more than 10 weeks.
Calls to remove abortion provision from the criminal law have grown louder as the numbers of prosecutions have increased in recent years, with many people surprised that women terminating their pregnancies, or those helping them to do so, risk prison time. In the last four years at least 6 women have been tried in court for the offence.
‘These women need care and support, not criminalisation,’ Antoniazzi urged MPs. ‘Each one of these cases is a travesty, enabled by our outdated abortion law.’
