WPUK statement: decriminalising abortion

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Woman’s Place UK believes abortion must be safe, legal and free at the point of need. We have maintained this position since our inception.

Whilst our sisters  in Ireland and Northern Ireland have made huge gains in their fight for abortion access, England and Wales presents a different picture for women, by maintaining the most severe punishment for an “illegal” abortion in the world, including life imprisonment. The draconian anti-women’s rights laws in England and Wales are worse than countries and states with severe anti-abortion laws, including Texas, Afghanistan, and South Sudan. 

Increasing protests outside abortion clinics, and a surge in police investigations and prosecutions of women in relation to abortion means we can not be complacent about our reproductive rights.

The current situation

It will come as no surprise that the women being investigated and criminalised by the state under these archaic Victorian Laws are some of the most vulnerable in society. Many of them are being subjected to violence and abuse, and/or, living in extreme poverty

Dr Emma Milne

Since 2019 about 100 women have been investigated by the police in relation to their abortions/miscarriages, including the case of Carla Foster, a mother of three, who was jailed (and later released) last year for terminating her crisis pregnancy after the legal time limit during lockdown.

Other cases include:

• Women who have taken telemedical pills incorrectly
• A teenage girl who was investigated after a stillbirth at 28 weeks, with the police removing her laptop whilst she was studying for her GCSEs, causing significant distress. The case finally ended when the coroner concluded that the pregnancy had ended due to natural causes.
• In 2021 a woman was arrested in hospital after experiencing a stillbirth, she was kept in a police cell for 36 hours

Women seeking to end a pregnancy, or finding themselves in crisis, deserve high quality healthcare and compassion, not angry protests or criminal prosecution.

Take action #TimeToAct

This Wednesday 15th of May we have the opportunity to decriminalise abortion, removing it from the Criminal Justice Act. You can help change the law and end the trauma of lengthy police investigations, prosecutions and prison time.

Please use the BPAS template to ask your MP to modernise UK abortion laws, & bring them in line with those in Northern Ireland. 

1 Support Dame Diana Johnson’s amendment

Her amendment to the Criminal Justice Act will prevent women from being jailed for ending their own pregnancy in England or Wales.

2 Ask your MP to vote down amendments NC15 (reducing the abortion time limit) and NC41 (relating to criminalising abortion after 24 weeks).

You can include any personal testimony, or links from this page in the email template #AbortionIsHealthcare

‘But she was 30+ weeks?’ A response

Time To Act

 

 

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Further reading

BPAS position statement

Italy allows anti-abortion activists to enter clinics

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/feb/23/mps-to-get-free-vote-on-decriminalising-abortion-in-england-and-wales

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/jan/27/abortion-investigations-causing-women-life-changing-harm-says-uk-expert

https://womansplaceuk.org/2023/06/19/blog-abortion-criminal-law-and-crisis-pregnancies/

https://theconversation.com/abortion-is-still-illegal-in-the-uk-thanks-to-this-victorian-law-48536

https://books.emeraldinsight.com/page/detail/Criminal-Justice-Responses-to-Maternal-Filicide/?k=9781839096211