UK Parliament votes to end ‘cruel' abortion prosecutions for women

The Age

4 hours ago

In 2023, Carla Foster received a 28-month prison sentence after she admitted taking abortion pills to induce a miscarriage during the initial COVID lockdown in 2020, when she was between 32 and 34 weeks pregnant. She was released after just one month in custody following a successful appeal.
Another case involved Nicola Packer, who was charged after taking the medications mifepristone and misoprostol at about 26 weeks of pregnancy. She denied knowing that she was more than 10 weeks pregnant and was acquitted by a jury.
The reform does not extend to medical professionals or anyone else involved in abortions performed outside existing legal frameworks. Nor does it alter the clinical requirements of the 1967 Act, which permits abortions up to 24 weeks with authorisation from two doctors, and after that point only under limited and exceptional circumstances.
Not all within the government backed the change. Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood opposed the amendment, warning of risks it might introduce.
'I am deeply concerned to see these measures being progressed in the name of women's rights, when the potential physical and mental impacts on women would be so devastating,' she wrote to constituents.
'I oppose extending abortions up until the point of birth beyond the exemptions that currently exist, as doing so would not only be unnecessary but dangerous.'
Antoniazzi made clear the measure would not affect healthcare provisions: the clause 'would not change any law regarding the provision of abortion services within a healthcare setting', she said, reiterating that the current time limits and clinical conditions would remain.
The UK vote lands at a moment of flux in abortion access across Europe, where legal protections are often undermined by logistical or cultural barriers.
Despite most EU countries allowing abortion under certain conditions, many women — an estimated 4500 in 2022 — still travel abroad to access care.
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The Netherlands received 2762 women from Germany, Poland, Belgium, France, and Ireland in 2022 alone. Spain recorded about 1500 cross-border abortion cases in the same year. Hundreds more travelled to the UK for the same reason.
Notably, only two EU member states – Malta and Poland – impose near-total bans. But restrictive time limits, a lack of providers and religious or cultural resistance elsewhere mean that abortion, while legal on paper, is inaccessible in practice.
Women in France, Italy, and Croatia, for example, often struggle to access care due to 'conscientious objectors' – doctors who refuse to perform abortions. In some Italian regions, up to 90 per cent of physicians decline to carry out the procedure. Even in France, one-third of the UK-based Abortion Support Network's clients are French, many from rural areas without clinics.
A recent survey found the average delay between discovering a pregnancy and accessing an abortion was four weeks – often because of waiting periods, lack of information, or difficulty in securing funds and time off work.
A citizen-led initiative titled My Voice, My Choice has gathered more than a million signatures calling on the EU to fund abortion access across borders.
But progress has been slow. The EU's health commissioner said the bloc 'stands ready to support member states,' but reiterated that abortion remains a matter of national jurisdiction.