One amendment, put forward by the chair of the Home Affairs Committee, Diana Johnson, and supported by 35 MPs, would decriminalise abortion in England and Wales after 24 weeks and mean women who terminate their pregnancies would not be prosecuted.
But Conservative MP Caroline Ansell has tabled another amendment that would shorten the time limit on legal abortions in England and Wales to 22 weeks, owing to advances in medical science.
The British Association of Perinatal Medicine considers 22 weeks the date when extremely premature babies are now viable outside the womb.
Forty percent of babies born at 23 weeks currently survive, a rate which has doubled in recent years.
It will now be up to the speaker of the House of Commons, Sir Lindsay Hoyle, to decide whether one or both amendments are voted on, but all the major political parties have agreed to allow a free vote based on MPs’ consciences.
The law on terminations in England and Wales is governed by the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act and the 1967 Abortion Act.
Since 2019 around 100 women have been investigated by the police for abortion offences.
In March 2023 Carla Foster, 45, pleaded guilty to illegally procuring her own abortion when she was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant.
BMA and Royal Colleges Support Decriminalisation
The royal colleges of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, GPs, and Midwives, along with the British Medical Association, support Ms. Johnson’s amendment.In the poll data, which The Epoch Times has seen, only 16 percent supported the idea and 29 percent said they either did not have an opinion or preferred not to answer.
Whitestone Insight interviewed 2,011 adults and found men (46 percent) were fractionally more in favour of decriminalisation than women (43 percent).
The poll also found 71 percent felt a 12-month sentence for a woman who aborted her baby at between 32 and 34 weeks was “about right or too short” and only 2 out of 10 thought it was too long.
Catherine Robinson, a spokeswoman for Right to Life UK, said the decriminalisation amendment “would likely lead to a tragic increase in the number of babies’ lives being ended through late-term abortions performed at home.”
Does Amendment ‘Remove All Rights and Value From an Unborn Baby’?
Miriam Cates, co-chair of the New Conservatives group of MPs, said Ms. Johnson’s amendment would “remove any consequence” for a pregnant woman who decided to terminate her baby after 24 weeks.“Of course women who face unwanted late-term pregnancies should be offered help and support, but in a civilised and compassionate society we must not change the law to remove all rights and value from an unborn baby just a few weeks or days before birth,” said Ms. Cates, who supports Ms. Ansell’s amendment.
Ms. Johnson said: “This amendment is only taking women out of the criminal justice system. If you look at somewhere like Texas which has very restrictive laws, they don’t criminalise women. They go after the abortion providers. We are out of step even with those countries that have stricter abortion laws.”
Ms. Johnson suggested women who took abortion pills to have late miscarriages were often in vulnerable circumstances.
She said: “It may be domestic abuse, coercive control. They may have been trafficked. The question is: do you believe they should be brought before the criminal law or should they be offered help and support.”
In January the Crown Prosecution Service dropped charges against Bethany Cox, 22, owing to “evidential difficulties” in rebutting her defence statement.
Ms. Cox was accused of using poison to bring about an abortion in July 2020. She denied taking a drug “with intent to destroy the life of a child that was capable of being born alive in the knowledge it would lead to the termination of the pregnancy.”
Her barrister, Nicholas Lumley, KC, said it was “beyond regrettable” his client was under investigation as she grieved for the child she lost owing to a miscarriage.
