Doctors are urging MPs in England and Wales not to support the decriminalising of abortion in an upcoming vote, saying ‘a legal deterrent remains important'. It comes against the background of increasing numbers of women being investigated for suspected illegal abortions – a trend which abortion campaigners want to halt.
Meanwhile, France has become the first country in the world to make abortion a constitutional right, following a vote on 8 March. As darkness fell, the Eiffel Tower was emblazoned with the message: ‘My Body My Choice.’
Two amendments to abortion laws were due to be voted on in parliament as en went to press: one to decriminalise abortion and the other to lower the legal time limit in the Abortion Act 1967 from 24 weeks to 22 weeks of pregnancy.
Defying the British Medical Association, who supports the complete decriminalising of abortion, a group of around 500 doctors sent an open letter to MPs saying: ‘If offences that make it illegal for a woman to perform her own abortion at any gestation were repealed, such abortions would, de facto, become possible up to birth for any reason including abortions for sex-selective purposes, as women could mistakenly or wilfully mislead abortion providers about their gestational age.’
The letter said there would also probably be a significant increase in complications, as any legal deterrent against women performing their own abortions late in pregnancy would be removed.
Separately, more than 700 medical professionals have urged MPs to vote in favour an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill which would lower the abortion time limit to 22 weeks.
Recent research from the University of Leicester and Imperial College London revealed that one third (261) of babies born alive at 22 and 23 weeks survived to discharge from hospital in 2020 and 2021 – compared to just 22% in 2018-2019.
Yet according to government figures, 755 abortions permitted by statute at 22-23 weeks were performed in 2021 alone.
Catherine Robinson from Right To Life UK said: ‘At the moment, a baby at 22 or 23 weeks gestation could be born prematurely and have a dedicated medical team provide expert care to try to save his or her life, while another baby at the same age could have their life deliberately ended by abortion in the same hospital at the same time. This is a contradiction in UK law.
‘That’s why we need to support [the] amendment to lower the abortion time limit from 24 to 22 weeks in line with advances in medical science.’
According to a YouGov survey, fewer than a quarter of MPs supported the existing criminal law on abortions, with 81% of Labour MPs were in favour of decriminalisation, compared with 37% of Conservatives.
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