Decriminalising abortion ‘profoundly irresponsible’

Decriminalising abortion would be “profoundly irresponsible”, an MP warns, days before Parliament are expected to vote on the issue.

Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi has tabled the amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill completely removing women from the criminal law relating to the abortion of their own pregnancies.

MPs are currently set to get a free vote on the proposed amendment. If passed, women could abort their babies up to full term for any reason without criminal repercussions.

Another Labour MP Stella Creasy says she wants to go further and make access to abortion a protected human right.

Since Covid, women have been permitted to self-administer an abortion at home within the first ten weeks of pregnancy, with a remote medical consultation. But since the rules were relaxed (and later made permanent), there have been mounting concerns around the safety of home abortion. Police investigations have also increased.

The issue was debated at Westminster Hall on 2 June, in response to a petition signed by more than 103,500 people. Carla Lockhart (DUP) said: “Decriminalisation is a convenient way to cover up the disastrous consequences of the pills-by-post scheme.”

She added that if the law was changed, “more women would take abortion pills away from a clinical context late in pregnancy, endangering their lives and leading to the tragic deaths of viable unborn babies. Permitting that would be profoundly irresponsible. Ideology would be trumping women’s safety.”

Scotland

Public Health Scotland has reported that in 2024 there were 18,710 abortions in Scotland – the highest since records began. There was also an increase in abortions of babies diagnosed with Down’s Syndrome – 60 up from 52 in 2023.

Right To Life UK has called on the Scottish government to urgently reinstate in-person consultations.