It will also push the issue back on the news agenda at a time when social conservatives in the U.S. are tightening abortion restrictions and watching British policy closely. Vice-President J.D. Vance accused politicians of a “backslide away from conscience rights” in February over buffer zones, which restrict harassment and protests outside abortion clinics, after a man was prosecuted for praying and then refusing to move on.
An 1861 law makes it a crime in England and Wales for a woman to “procure her own miscarriage.” However, parliament passed a 1967 act allowing abortion up to 24 weeks into a pregnancy, if a number of conditions are met and two doctors provide a sign-off.
Campaigners for abortion rights believe this situation is out of date, especially after sections of the 1861 law were repealed in Northern Ireland in 2019.
‘Unfinished business’
Tonia Antoniazzi, one of the two Labour MPs drafting an amendment on decriminalization, told POLITICO: “Vulnerable women are being investigated and prosecuted under this cruel and outdated law, and I believe this must change as a matter of urgency. I’m working towards change in this area and would welcome any opportunity to work with colleagues from all sides of the House [of Commons] on the reform we desperately need.”
Stella Creasy, the other MP drafting an amendment, told POLITICO the situation in Northern Ireland had created “unfinished business … and left my own constituents without the same protection of their basic human right to access a safe, legal and local abortion.”
The two MPs each plan to propose a different cross-party amendment to the Labour government’s Crime and Policing Bill when it returns for its report stage in the Commons.
