Abortion in the UK Still Isn’t a Legal Right — Today That Might Finally Change

In the UK, it’s easy to assume abortion rights are safe — that the horrors unfolding in parts of the United States could never happen here. But that confidence is dangerously misplaced.

It’s one of the reasons why today marks a pivotal and much-awaited moment in UK reproductive rights as members of the Lords will now put forward proposed amendments. Last summer, a historic amendment to decriminalise abortion (NC1) was spearheaded by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi. The bill seeks to remove women from the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, which would effectively end the possibility of criminal prosecution for women who self-manage their own pregnancies.

As journalist Bel Trew revealed in her investigation into Britain’s growing anti-abortion movement, six women have been prosecuted in the past two years for ending pregnancies outside legal limits — a sharp and worrying rise from just three convictions in the previous century. Less than six months later, US-style anti-abortion rhetoric has begun echoing through both British streets and Parliament.

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage has called Britain’s 24-week abortion limit “utterly ludicrous” — a comment Labour MP Stella Creasy says is more than just offensive: it’s a warning sign. “It’s inevitable a man who wants to repeat the Trump playbook would begin attacking abortion access” she says. “That’s why we have to protect it for the 250,000 who have one every year by making it a human right.”

Contrary to what many believe, abortion in England, Scotland and Wales is not a legal right. It’s governed by the 1967 Abortion Act, which criminalises abortion unless strict conditions are met. Women must obtain approval from two doctors and meet specific medical criteria — a paternalistic framework that treats abortion as a medical exception rather than a matter of personal autonomy.

Last summer, MP Tonia Antoniazzi, called for a cross-party amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill which would remove women from the criminal law in relation to ending their own pregnancies – bringing England and Wales into line with Northern Ireland. Today, MPs will vote to change the law in England and Wales. If successful, it would 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.

“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,” says Dr Ranee Thakar, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, one of the many medical bodies backing the campaign.

Abortions outside the current law often involve highly vulnerable women — those facing domestic abuse, mental health challenges, or barriers to accessing NHS care explains Dr Thakar. “Yet alarmingly, prosecutions of women have been increasing in recent years.”

Heidi Stewart, Chief Executive of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), adds: “Women are being subjected to years-long police investigations, arrested straight from the hospital ward, their homes searched, and their children taken away.”

The case of Nicola Packer has become a defining example. During the Covid lockdown in November 2020, Packer, believing she was under 10 weeks pregnant, took abortion pills issued under emergency pandemic regulations. She unexpectedly gave birth to a foetus at around 26 weeks and sought emergency medical help. Instead, she was arrested and put through a four-and-a-half-year legal ordeal only to be acquitted last month by a jury.

“No one should face criminal prosecution for ending their own pregnancy,” says Louise McCudden, UK Head of External Affairs at MSI Reproductive Choices. “Abortion is a common, essential healthcare service, and it is unacceptable that women in England and Wales are still being arrested and investigated on suspicion of ending their own pregnancies under a Victorian law created in 1861.”

The charge increasingly being used in these cases—child destruction, under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929—was designed to stop illegal backstreet abortions. Today, it’s being used to target women in vulnerable and complex situations.

Even the more modern 1967 Act criminalises women unless they comply with narrow medical conditions and receive the approval of two doctors, a process that delays care and denies autonomy.

The proposed amendment 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. Medical bodies, healthcare providers, and campaigners are calling this an “unmissable moment” to protect women from criminalisation.

Advocates are clear: we must act before it’s too late. The rise of authoritarian populism across Europe, the erosion of LGBTQ+ rights, and the backlash against DEI initiatives are not isolated. They are symptoms of a global regression and if we don’t defend our rights now, we risk having to fight for them later.

As the reversal of Roe v. Wade in the US made clear, rights not explicitly protected are rights that can be taken away.

Use the BPAS tool today to urge the Lords to safeguard pills-by-post and help put the 1861 law behind us.