'Women deserve better': Fresh attempts to decriminalise abortion as campaigners say 100 investigated
More than 100 women are believed to have been investigated by the police in recent years under abortion laws, campaigners say, as they renew efforts to decriminalise the medical procedure.
Health professionals, charities and MPs are saying "women deserve better" and should not face investigation under an "archaic" 164-year-old law, which sees abortion in England and Wales remain a criminal offence.
The issue most recently came to the fore after a during the COVID lockdown in 2020.
Nicola Packer, 45, had taken abortion medicine when 26 weeks pregnant - beyond the legal limit of 10 weeks. She told jurors she did not realise she had been pregnant for more than 10 weeks.
Following the trial, her friend said she had been "persecuted" for a "tragic accident".
It is legal with an authorised provider up to 24 weeks, with very limited circumstances allowing one after this time, such as when the mother's life is at risk or the child would be born with a severe disability.
The British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas) is backing a new amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, brought by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, stating that "no offence is committed by a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy".
The amendment would do away with the threat of investigation - or even imprisonment - some women face.
Read more:'I felt like a criminal': One woman's storyThe women selling abortions on social media
Previous attempts to change the law had been set to go before parliament, but could not take place after parliament was dissolved last summer for the general election.
Ms Antoniazzi supported Ms Packer during her recent trial, and said the current law is "unacceptable".
"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."
Law won't change time limit
The latest attempt follows repeated calls to repeal sections of the 19th-century law - the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act - after abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland in 2019.
Bpas said the latest amendment would not change the law regarding provision of abortion services within a healthcare setting - including the time limit, grounds for abortion or approval of two doctors.
Bpas said: "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. Women deserve better."
A separate amendment, proposed by Stella Creasy, would not only decriminalise abortion but "lock in" the right to have one, and protect those who help.
Read more: What are the abortion laws in UK and the punishments for breaking them?
It follows the case of Carla Foster, who was jailed in 2023 for illegally obtaining abortion tablets to end her pregnancy.
She later had her sentence reduced on appeal.
Ms Creasy last week said the law must be changed so that "the right to choose is a human right", ensuring no repeat of "such awful cases and victimisation of vulnerable women again".
Last month, Scotland's women's health minister, Jenni Minto, said she was "disappointed" that some still have to travel to England for late-term abortions, amid concerns that women in Scotland can only have a termination after 20 weeks in cases where there is either a foetal abnormality or the woman's life is at risk.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
19 minutes ago
- Yahoo
A Harvard acceptance fulfilled a dream for a student in Ethiopia. Trump's order stands in his way
Winning admission to Harvard University fulfilled a longtime goal for Yonas Nuguse, a student in Ethiopia who endured the Tigray conflict, internet and phone shutdowns, and the COVID-19 pandemic — all of which made it impossible to finish high school on time. Now, it's unclear if he will make it this fall to the Ivy League campus in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He and other admitted students around the world are anxiously tracking the school's feud with the Trump administration, which is seeking to keep it from enrolling international students. The war in the country's Tigray region forced schools to close in many parts of the province. Nuguse, 21, took a gap year to study and save money to pay for his TOEFL English proficiency test in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia's capital. 'The war affected me a great deal and when I found out the news that I was accepted to Harvard, I was ecstatic. I knew it was a proud moment for my family, teachers, mentors and friends, who were instrumental in my achievement,' he said. Increasingly, the nation's oldest and best-known university has attracted some of the brightest minds from around the world, with international students accounting for one-quarter of its enrollment. As Harvard's fight with the administration plays out, foreign students are now navigating deep uncertainty and weighing other options. On Wednesday, President Donald Trump signed a directive seeking to block U.S. entry for Harvard's international students. It marked the administration's latest effort to squeeze Harvard's foreign enrollment after a federal judge in Boston blocked the withdrawal of its certification to host students from overseas. 'Harvard will continue to protect its international students,' the university said in a statement. The standoff with Harvard comes as the administration has been tightening scrutiny of student visas nationwide. Thousands of students around the country abruptly lost permission to be in the U.S. this spring before the administration reversed itself, and Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced last week the U.S. would 'aggressively revoke' visas for students from China. 'It is one blow after another,' said Mike Henniger, CEO of Illume Student Advisory Services, who works with colleges in the U.S., Canada and Europe to recruit international students. 'At this point, international student interest in the U.S. has basically dropped to nil.' The future of Harvard's international students has been hanging in the balance since the Department of Homeland Security first moved to block its foreign enrollment on May 22. For many, the twists and turns have been exhausting. Jing, a 23-year-old master's student, is currently completing an internship in China this summer, and unsure if he can reenter the U.S. for the fall semester. 'It is tiring, we all feel numb now. Trump just makes big news headlines once every few days since he got back to the White House,' said Jing, who agreed to speak under his family name out of concern about retaliation from the Trump administration. Jing said he is going to watch and see what happens for now, in case the move against international students is a negotiating tactic that does not stick. The possibility that Trump could block foreign enrollment at other colleges only raises the uncertainty for students planning to pursue their education overseas, said Craig Riggs, who has been working in international education for about 30 years and is the editor of ICEF Monitor. He said he urges families to consult carefully with advisers and not to overreact to the day's headlines. 'The rules under which students would make this huge decision to devote years of their lives and quite a bit of money to studying at Harvard have been shown to change quite quickly,' Riggs said. An aspiring economist, Nuguse was the only student accepted to Harvard this year from Kalamino Special High School, which caters to gifted students from underprivileged backgrounds from across Tigray. After receiving acceptances also to Columbia University and Amherst College, Nuguse chose Harvard, which he had long dreamed of attending. He said he hopes it will work out to attend Harvard. Nuguse was granted a visa to study at Harvard, and he worries it might be too late to reverse his decision and attend another university anyway. He received an email from Harvard last week, telling him to proceed with his registration and highlighting a judge's order in Harvard's favor in the dispute over foreign enrollment. 'I hope the situation is temporary and I can enroll on time to go on and realize my dream far from reality in Ethiopia,' he said. ___ Associated Press writers Jocelyn Gecker and Cheyanne Mumphrey contributed to this report. ___ The Associated Press' education coverage receives financial support from multiple private foundations. AP is solely responsible for all content. Find AP's standards for working with philanthropies, a list of supporters and funded coverage areas at
San Francisco Chronicle
40 minutes ago
- San Francisco Chronicle
Who's in charge? CDC's leadership 'crisis' apparent amid new COVID-19 vaccine guidance
WASHINGTON (AP) — There was a notable absence last week when U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced in a 58-second video that the government would no longer endorse the COVID-19 vaccine for healthy children or pregnant women. The director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention — the person who typically signs off on federal vaccine recommendations — was nowhere to be seen. The CDC, a $9.2 billion-a-year agency tasked with reviewing life-saving vaccines, monitoring diseases and watching for budding threats to Americans' health, is without a clear leader. 'I've been disappointed that we haven't had an aggressive director since — February, March, April, May — fighting for the resources that CDC needs,' said Dr. Robert Redfield, who served as CDC director under the first Trump administration and supported Kennedy's nomination as the nation's health secretary. $9.2 billion-a-year agency without leader as nomination awaits The leadership vacuum at a foremost federal public health agency has existed for months, after President Donald Trump suddenly withdrew his first pick for CDC director in March. A hearing for his new nominee — the agency's former acting director Susan Monarez — has not been scheduled because she has not submitted all the paperwork necessary to proceed, according to a spokesman for Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., who will oversee the nomination. HHS did not answer written questions about Monarez's nomination, her current role at the CDC or her salary. An employee directory lists Monarez, a longtime government employee, as a staffer for the NIH under the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health. Instead, a lawyer and political appointee with no medical experience is 'carrying out some of the duties' of director at the agency that for seven decades has been led by someone with a medical degree. Matthew Buzzelli, who is also the chief of staff at the CDC, is 'surrounded by highly qualified medical professionals and advisors to help fulfill these duties as appropriate,' Andrew Nixon, an HHS spokesperson said in a statement. Adding to the confusion was an employee-wide email sent last week that thanked 'new acting directors who shave stepped up to the plate." The email, signed by Monarez, listed her as the acting director. It was was sent just days after Kennedy said at a Senate hearing that Monarez had been replaced by Buzzelli. The lack of a confirmed director will be a problem if a public health emergency such as the COVID-19 pandemic or a rapid uptick in measles cases hits, said Michael Osterholm, an epidemiologist at the University of Minnesota. 'CDC is a crisis, waiting for a crisis to happen,' said Osterholm. 'At this point, I couldn't tell you for the life of me who was going to pull what trigger in a crisis situation." An acting director rarely seen, and stalled decisions At CDC headquarters in Atlanta, employees say Monarez was rarely heard from between late January – when she was appointed acting director – and late March, when Trump nominated her. She also has not held any of the 'all hands' meetings that were customary under previous CDC chiefs, according to several staffers. One employee, who insisted on anonymity because they were not authorized to speak to the media and fears being fired if identified said Monarez has been almost invisible since her nomination, adding that her absence has been cited by other leaders as an excuse for delaying action. The situation already has led to confusion. In April, a 15-member CDC advisory panel of outside experts met to discuss vaccine policy. The panel makes recommendations to the CDC Director, who routinely signs off on them. But it was unclear during the meeting who would be reviewing the panel's recommendations, which included the expansion of RSV vaccinations for adults and a new combination shot as another option to protect teens against meningitis. HHS officials said the recommendations were going to Buzzelli, but then weeks passed with no decision. A month after the meeting ended, the CDC posted on a web site that Kennedy had signed off on recommendations for travelers against chikungunya, a viral disease transmitted to humans by mosquitos. But there continues to be no word about a decision about the other vaccine recommendations. The problem was accentuated again last week, when Kennedy rolled out recommendations for the COVID-19 vaccine saying they were no longer recommended for healthy children or pregnant women, even though expectant mothers are considered a high-risk group if they contract the virus. Kennedy made the surprise announcement without input from the CDC advisory panel that has historically made recommendations on the nation's vaccine schedule. The CDC days later posted revised guidance that said healthy kids and pregnant women may get the shots. Nixon, the HHS spokesman, said CDC staff were consulted on the recommendations, but would not provide staffer's names or titles. He also did not provide the specific data or research that Kennedy reviewed to reach his conclusion on the new COVID-19 recommendations, just weeks after he said that he did not think 'people should be taking medical advice' from him. 'As Secretary Kennedy said, there is a clear lack of data to support the repeat booster strategy in children,' Nixon said in a statement. Research shows that pregnant women are at higher risk of severe illness, mechanical ventilation and death, when they contract COVID-19 infections. During the height of the pandemic, deaths of women during pregnancy or shortly after childbirth soared to their highest level in 50 years. Vaccinations also have been recommended for pregnant women because it passes immunity to newborns who are too young for vaccines and also vulnerable to infections. Nixon did not address a written question about recommendations for pregnant women. Kennedy's decision to bypass the the advisory panel and announce new COVID-19 recommendations on his own prompted a key CDC official who works with the committee – Dr. Lakshmi Panagiotakopoulos – to announce her resignation last Friday. 'My career in public health and vaccinology started with a deep-seated desire to help the most vulnerable members of our population, and that is not something I am able to continue doing in this role,' she wrote in an email seen by an Associated Press reporter. Signs are mounting that the CDC has been 'sidelined' from key decision-making under Kennedy's watch, said Dr. Anand Parekh, the chief medical adviser for The Bipartisan Policy Center. 'It's difficult to ascertain how we will reverse the chronic disease epidemic or be prepared for myriad public health emergencies without a strong CDC and visible, empowered director,' Parekh said. 'It's also worth noting that every community in the country is served by a local or state public health department that depends on the scientific expertise of the CDC and the leadership of the CDC director.'
The Hill
an hour ago
- The Hill
Measles vaccination rates fell in almost 8 in 10 US counties after COVID pandemic: Research
New research shows measles vaccination rates for children fell in almost 8 to 10 counties across the country after the COVID pandemic. A John Hopkins University study tracked immunization records across 2,066 counties and 33 states. They compared the kindergarten vaccination rates from 2017-2020 to averages from 2022-2024, as reported by the Associated Press. Their study comes a month after over 1,000 measles cases were reported in the U.S. backtracking on the country's declaration of measles elimination in 2000. The outbreak was first reported in Texas and soon spread to Kentucky, Colorado, Kansas, Louisiana, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri and Montana in addition to other areas. John Hopkins found that counties in the Lone Star state saw a two-percentage-point increase in vaccination rates after the pandemic at 82.4 percent, as reported by the AP. However, 742 residents have contracted measles rendering the state below herd immunity. Gaines County, Terry County, Lubbock County and El Paso County have seen the most cases. Kansas saw children's vaccination rates spiral in counties after the pandemic. Gray County recorded a 23-percentage point drop in measles immunizations after COVID, while Haskell County measured a decline of 18 percent and the number of vaccinated children in Stevens County fell by 0.5 percentage points. Officials in Stevens have recorded 7 cases of measles, Haskell leaders have reported 11 individuals with measles and Gray County said 25 people have contracted the infectious disease. Post-pandemic vaccination levels also fell in Colorado, more specifically, El Paso County. There the vaccination rate dropped by 3.8 percentage points, AP reported. Residents in Arapahoe County saw a 3.5 percentage point decrease in vaccination rates. The state has reported a total of 12 measles cases. The Center for Disease Control (CDC) said 30 percent of the contracted measles cases are found in individuals under the age of 5, noting that 22 percent of those with an outbreak in the age category have been hospitalized. Thirty-seven percent of individuals who contracted measles through the recent outbreak are between the ages of 5-19 and 32 percent are over the age of 20. 'The risk for widespread measles in the United States remains low due to robust U.S. immunization and surveillance programs and outbreak response capacity supported by federal, state, tribal, local, and territorial health partners. Measles-mumps-rubella (MMR) vaccination remains the most important tool for preventing measles,' the CDC wrote in March when 222 cases were reported nationwide. 'To prevent measles infection and spread from imported cases, all U.S. residents should be up to date on their MMR vaccinations, especially before traveling internationally, regardless of the destination,' it added. Amid health concerns, President Trump's proposed budget aims to cut $3.6 billion in discretionary funding for the CDC.
