MPs set to vote on decriminalising abortion in England and Wales

Women would no longer be continued to have ended a pregnancy in England and Wales as part of a project to reshape the laws on abortion.

MPs are expected to obtain a free vote next week – which means that they will not be informed of how to vote by their party – by modifying the law.

This comes in the midst of concerns, more women are investigated by police suspected of having put an illegal end to pregnancy.

Abortion is illegal in England and Wales, most often continued under Victorian legislation, offenses against the 1861 person’s law. But it is authorized up to 24 weeks and under other circumstances under the 1967 abortion law.

This requires that two doctors report it and even before 24 weeks, a woman can testify that her mental or physical health is at risk.

An amendment to the Crime bill and the police, tabled by Labor MP Tonia Antoniazzi, aims to decriminalize abortion at any stage by a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy, ending the threat of investigation or imprisonment.

The framework by which abortion is accessible would remain the same.

But the abortions should only be signed by two doctors – as the law currently requests – if the procedure takes place in a hospital or another health care establishment.

The deadlines would also apply in health environments.

“Police cannot trust the law on abortion – the CPS or the wider criminal justice system,” said Antoniazzi.

“My amendment to the crime bill and the police will give us the urgent change we need to protect women.”

Six women appeared before the court in England accused of having finished or tried to end their own pregnancy outside the right of abortion in the last three years.

Last month, Nicola Packer, 45, was eliminated by a jury from the “illegal administration” herself with abortion pills at home during a locking of the coronavirus in 2020.

She had taken prescribed abortion drugs when she was approximately 26 weeks pregnant, beyond the legal limit of 10 weeks for having taken these drugs at home. She told the jurors that she did not realize that she had been pregnant for more than 10 weeks.

The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG) said that Ms. Packer’s trial had demonstrated “how the current abortion law was outdated and harmful.

RCOG is one of several medical colleges, charitable organizations and unions that support Antoniazzi’s amendment, which has been signed by 136 deputies so far, notably labor deputies, Libs Dems, Greens and a handful of curators.

A rival amendment by Labor MP Stella Creasey, who would make access to an abortion a human right, is supported by 101 MPS so far.

He seeks to decriminalize abortion up to 24 weeks, canceling the elements of the abortion law. This would also guarantee that abortions in the long term outside the law on abortion did not cause prison terms.

Creasy said his amendment would simply put the rest of the United Kingdom with Northern Ireland, where abortion was decriminalized in 2019.

But some of the greatest health service providers in Britain have expressed their concern about what it is precipitated without appropriate examination, claiming that it would effectively wake up the 1967 abortion law and could open the door to a complete debate on the right of a woman to an abortion.

Rachael Clarke, advocacy manager at British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), warned that deputies should not be invited to support a “generation change” after only three hours of debate next week.

“For us, unfortunately, although we really believed that we need an overwhelming and generational change for the law of abortion, the amendment of Stella Creasy is not the right way to do so,” she told Radio 4 program.

BPAS is one of the organizations that support Antoniazzi’s proposals.

The company for the protection of children to be born has declared that the two proposed amendments represent “the greatest threat to children to be born and their mothers since the law on abortion”.

They urged supporters to put pressure on their deputies to vote against the two proposals, warning that abortion “until birth” could become possible under changes.

MPs will probably be offered a vote on one of the two amendments, with work, dems Libs and conservatives all saying that their deputies will not be informed to vote for or against changes.

The Prime Minister’s official spokesman said: “It’s important that women have access to safe and legal abortions on the NHS and this now includes taking the abortion pills at home.

“This is an extremely sensitive question and we recognize that there are strongly designed opinions on all sides of the discussion and by long -standing convention, any change in the law in this area would be a question of conscience for individual deputies rather than on the government.”

The spokesman refused to say to what extent Sir Keir Starmer would vote on the issue, because it was a “question of conscience”.

The 1967 abortion law initially allowed abortions to take place up to 28 weeks in England and Wales. This was reduced to 24 weeks in 1990.

The abortions after 24 weeks are only allowed if:

• Women’s life is in danger
• There is a severe fetal anomaly
• The woman is at risk of serious physical and mental injuries

Since 2018, women in England have taken the second abortion pill at home, aligning the rules with Scotland and Wales.

Although the same rules apply in Scotland, it has a separate health and legal system system.

The laws on abortion are currently being examined in Scotland following calls for advocacy groups to descend the process.