14th May 2025
· Tonia Antoniazzi MP has laid a cross-party amendment, with the support of 60 MPs, to the Crime and Policing Bill which would remove women from the criminal law in relation ending their own pregnancies – bringing England and Wales into line with Northern Ireland.
· A coalition of leading medical bodies and healthcare providers has welcomed the amendment as an “unmissable moment” to protect women and girls from the threat of investigation and prosecution.
· The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health, British Pregnancy Advisory Service, BPAS, and MSI UK have issued statements urging MPs to back amendment NC1
A coalition of medical bodies and healthcare providers has welcomed the cross-party amendment NC1, laid by Tonia Antoniazzi MP. The amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill would remove women from the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life Preservation Act 1929 in relation to their own pregnancies. This would bring England and Wales into line with Northern Ireland, and ensure vulnerable women in England and Wales are no longer be subject to years-long investigation, criminal charges, and custodial sentences for ending their own pregnancy.
Dr Ranee Thakar, President of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, RCOG, said:
“Abortion law in England and Wales is the oldest healthcare law in existence and means that a woman can be prosecuted for ending her own pregnancy.
“Abortion that happens outside of the current law generally involves very vulnerable women — including those facing domestic abuse, mental health challenges or barriers to accessing NHS care. Yet alarmingly, prosecutions of women have been increasing in recent years.
“Abortion is an essential form of healthcare and should be subject to regulatory and professional standards like other medical procedures, not criminal sanctions.
“Parliamentarians now have an unmissable opportunity to decriminalise abortion, to ensure women can access abortion safely, confidentially and free from the threat of investigation and prosecution.
“We urge MPs to support this amendment to ensure that women and girls in England and Wales will have the same protections as their counterparts in countries such as Northern Ireland, France, Canada, Australia and New Zealand.”
Heidi Stewart, Chief Executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, BPAS, said:
“In recent years, we have seen record numbers of women investigated for suspected illegal abortions. Women are being subjected to years-long police investigations, arrested straight from the hospital ward, their homes searched, and their children taken away.
“We have just witnessed the shameful public trial of a woman who sought medical attention after a traumatic medical experience, her private life picked apart by prosecutors and reported in the national press, at a huge emotional and financial cost. Prosecuting women for ‘illegal’ abortion is never in the public interest, and no woman should ever have to go through this again.
“We are calling on MPs to listen to the voice of leading medical bodies, listen to the stories of the women who have been criminalised under our cruel and archaic law, and back this vital and urgent amendment.”
Louise McCudden, UK Head of External Affairs at MSI Reproductive Choices, said:
“No one should face criminal prosecution for ending their own pregnancy. Our Victorian abortion laws are not only outdated, but inconsistent, with abortion now decriminalised in Northern Ireland but not in England, Wales, or Scotland.
“As one of the world’s largest abortion providers, we’re deeply concerned to see so many women face prosecution, even jail, in Britain. Even in countries with deeply restrictive abortion laws, it is rare to prosecute the women themselves for ending their own pregnancies.
“We know from providing abortion care in contexts where abortion has been decriminalised, like Australia and Mexico, that this is the right step forward. We encourage MPs to listen to the consensus in favour of decriminalising women in relation to their own pregnancies, and act now.”
Dr Janet Barter, President, Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Healthcare said:
“As the voice of 14,000 members who provide essential sexual and reproductive healthcare services across the UK, the FSRH wholeheartedly supports Tonia Antoniazzi MP’s amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill. The current legal framework around abortion, is both outdated and harmful. Abortion is a healthcare issue, not a criminal one, and no one should face investigation or prosecution for seeking or providing sexual and reproductive healthcare.
As Parliament considers amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill, we urge MPs to support amendment NC1 which will protect women and their fundamental right to make decisions about their own bodies.”
Tracey Masters, FSRH’s abortion care lead said,
“Abortion is an essential part of reproductive healthcare, and it is never in the public interest to investigate or prosecute a woman for ending her own pregnancy. The recent, and unprecedented rise in criminal investigations following pregnancy loss or abortion highlights the urgent need for reform. Decriminalisation is a crucial step toward ensuring safe and equitable abortion access and I encourage MPs to support this amendment laid by Tonia Antoniazzi MP.”
Tonia Antoniazzi, Labour MP for Gower, said:
“I have seen first hand the impact these investigations and prosecutions have on women. There is simply no world in which prosecuting a vulnerable woman who may have experienced a medical complication, miscarriage, or stillbirth is the right course of action. The fact that our current law enables this is unacceptable.
“That is why I yesterday laid – alongside colleagues from across Parliament - an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which would stop these laws being used against women. This amendment is tightly drawn – not changing anything about provision of abortion care, the time limit, the right to conscientious objection or any other aspects of abortion law. I am confident that it will deliver this much-needed change for women without subjecting hard-working abortion care providers to uncertainty in law and practice.
“I am confident that when Parliament has the opportunity to vote on these proposals, my colleagues will agree that never again should a woman be prosecuted for ending her own pregnancy in England and Wales.”
Alex Brewer, Liberal Democrat MP for North East Hampshire, said:
“I’m delighted to be supporting this change to the law alongside colleagues from across Parliament. I know many people will be completely unaware that abortion law dating to the 1860s still applies to vulnerable women across England and Wales. It’s cruel, outdated, and in urgent need of reform.
“Parliament ensured back in 2019 that the same law should no longer apply to women in Northern Ireland. And it has never applied to women in Scotland. In countries from France to Ireland to Canada, the USA, Australia and New Zealand women are protected by their laws. Yet in England we are behind the times and out of step – choosing to criminalise women rather than showing them the compassion they deserve. We need change and we need it now.”
ENDS
For background and full list of organisations supporting this amendment, please see here.
For further comment, please contact Katherine O’Brien, Head of Campaigns and Communications at BPAS, on 07881 265276 or email katherine.obrien@bpas.org
Notes
Abortion in England and Wales is still a criminal offence. Under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, having or providing an abortion remains a crime that carries a life sentence. Women accessing abortion in Great Britain do so under the Abortion Act 1967, which did not decriminalise abortion but simply made it legal in certain, fixed circumstances. In 2019, Westminster voted to repeal the laws criminalising women in Northern Ireland, but they remain in force in England and Wales.
Increasing numbers of women in England and Wales are facing criminal prosecution under the 1861 law, passed before women even had the right to vote. In the past three years in England, 6 women have appeared in court charged with ending or attempting to end their own pregnancy outside of the terms of the 1967 Abortion Act. Abortion providers say for every woman who ends up in court, at least 10 others are subjected to prolonged police investigations which can prevent them from getting the mental health support they desperately need and which have resulted in existing children being separated from women whose cases never make it to court.
About BPAS
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service, BPAS, is a charity that sees over 100,000 women a year for reproductive healthcare services including pregnancy counselling, abortion care, miscarriage management and contraception at clinics across Great Britain.
BPAS exists to further women’s reproductive choices. We believe all women should have the right to make their own decisions in and around pregnancy, from the contraception they use to avoid pregnancy right the way through to how they decide to feed their newborn baby, with access to evidence-based information to underpin their choices and high-quality services and support to exercise them.
BPAS also runs the Centre for Reproductive Research and Communication, CRRC. Through rigorous multidisciplinary research and impactful communication, the CRRC aims to inform policy, practice, and public discourse. You can find out more here.