Latest news with #AbortionAct
Daily Mirror
2 hours ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Inside the Victorian-era law from 1861 that governs women's rights in the UK
As campaigners fight for the decriminalisation of abortion to the UK, we delve into the 1861 Victorian era law that currently governs women's bodily autonomy in Britain MPs, feminist and abortion rights groups are currently fighting for the decriminalisation of abortion in England and Wales. But what exactly is the law around abortion and when did it come into place? The Abortion Act was introduced to the UK in 1967, and allowed women to legally terminate a pregnancy up to 28 weeks with the certification of two doctors. In 1990, the limit was changed to 24 weeks. This means that a woman who undergoes an abortion without the permission of two doctors – for example, by buying abortion pills online – can be charged with a criminal offence. What is the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act? At the time of writing, seeking an illegal abortion in the UK carries a sentence of up to a lifetime in prison. This is because it falls under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. Under the Act, any person who provided or used a poison or tool to end a pregnancy can be found guilty of 'a misdemeanour' and, if convicted, could be imprisoned. Or, as the law puts it: 'kept in penal servitude for life'. In 1921, an exception was made to include a caveat that abortions could be performed in order to save the life of a mother. In 1938, a doctor was arrested after performing an abortion on a 14-year-old rape victim. He argued the procedure was necessary because of the risks to her physical and mental health. This prompted a revision to the law, which led to the 1967 Abortion Act. At present, all abortions after 24 weeks are illegal, with exception of limited circumstances. This includes the mother's life being at risk or if the child were to be born with a severe disability. The Abortion Act also states that abortions must be carried out either in a hospital or licensed clinic. However, this was changed during the Covid pandemic in 2020, when at-home abortion pills were made available by post for people seeking to terminate their pregnancy in the first 10 weeks. MPs voted to continue to allow women to access at-home abortion care and the measure was made permanent in August 2020. How many women have been charged for an illegal abortion? Under the law, there have only been three convictions achieved, but criminal investigations into women who have suffered from miscarriages or had a premature or a stillbirth have recently increased. According to the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, 'record numbers' of women are being investigated for suspected abortions in the UK. Campaigners have claimed that over 100 women have been investigated by police in recent years due to current abortion laws, as recently reported by Sky News. In the 10 years leading up to April 2022, England and Wales recorded at least 67 cases of procuring an illegal abortion, according to data obtained by The Guardian under the Freedom of Information Act. Why do campaigners want to change the law? Campaigners want to decriminalise abortion as this will make it a healthcare matter rather than a legal one. A petition was launched in 2024 calling for the decriminalisation of abortion, which received more than 103,000 signatures, according to the UK parliament. It stated: "I am calling on the UK government to remove abortion from criminal law so that no pregnant person can be criminalised for procuring their own abortion."
South Wales Argus
3 days ago
- Politics
- South Wales Argus
Could it be possible that we truly need these immigrants
Could it be possible that we truly need these immigrants, these strangers? Are we in an after-the-war situation with the death of so many men, could our 1967 Abortion Act, with 11 million lost children, a war on the unborn, be the real reason why we are allowing such great numbers of immigrants into the UK? It is common knowledge that we are an ageing top heavy population in the UK and Europe, are we now pretending that a bill to legalise assisted suicide is really for the benefit of the old, the sick and terminally ill people, or is it that we can no longer, without the support of a younger generation, afford the huge national health bill. Yours faithfully, Paul Botto
Cosmopolitan
6 days ago
- Health
- Cosmopolitan
You thought abortion was legal in the UK? Your questions on our campaign to decriminlise abortion answered.
Last week, we, alongside UK abortion provider BPAS, launched a powerful new campaign, to decriminilise abortion in England and Wales. While safe and legal abortions are available to most in the UK - roughly one in three women will have one in their lifetime - there's been a worrying rise in criminal cases being brought under a Victorian law dating back to 1861. With support from 30+ healthcare and women's rights organisations, including The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, MSI Reproductive Choices and The Fawcett Society we are calling for abortion to be removed from this archaic legislation. Put simply: we believe that abortion is a healthcare issue, not a criminal one, and no woman should face up to life imprisonment for ending a pregnancy. We also want to ring-fence our rights. With powerful anti-choice groups gaining traction in the UK, we need, now more than ever, to protect our access to abortion services. Getting behind our campaign is simple, all we need you to do is email your MP, with our simple to use template, found here. But, if you have any questions surrounding the campaign we're keen to hear them. We have taken the most common ones and answered them, with the help of experts who work directly in the field, below… It is, but only under set conditions. The 1967 Abortion Act sets out grounds and circumstances in which women can access legal abortion care, such as each request for an abortion having to be approved by two doctors. 'Any woman who ends a pregnancy outside of the terms of the Abortion Act - for example, if she uses pills bought online - can face up to life imprisonment,' explains Katherine O'Brien from BPAS. 'This is under a law that was passed in 1861, a time when women weren't even allowed to vote.' In the past three years, in England, six women have appeared in court charged with ending or attempting to end their own pregnancy, outside of the terms of the 1967 Abortion Act. Most recently, we saw Nicola Packer, who had been prescribed abortion medicine over the phone, in November 2020 (in the midst of the pandemic). The legal limit for taking medication, at home, to end a pregnancy is ten weeks but she was charged by police with "unlawfully administering to herself a poison or other noxious thing" with the "intent to procure a miscarriage". The prosecution argued that Nicola knew she had been pregnant for longer than that, and therefore broke the law. Nicola was found not guilty and was cleared by a jury. But, the relentless pursuit, questioning and having to face the courts was incredibly traumatic for her. She was arrested in hospital, by uniformed police officers, the case took four-and-a-half years to reach court and, when it did, her sex life and other private details were splashed all over the papers. 'Many more women are being harmed by this cruel and outdated law,' says O'Brien. 'Abortion providers report that for every woman that ends up in court, at least ten others are subjected to prolonged police investigations. This includes women who have experienced stillbirths or gone into premature labour and are suspected of having taken medication to end their pregnancies.' We recently reported that police have been given new guidance on how to search a woman's phone, home and period tracking apps after a pregnancy loss, if an illegal abortion is suspected. In Scotland, just like in England and Wales, abortion is legal up to 24 weeks, providing two doctors sign off on it. However, Scotland is a little different as they have some autonomy over abortion law. Our campaign is currently focusing on the law in England and Wales because this is where we are seeing the law being used to investigate and prosecute women and girls. Decriminalisation does not mean deregulation. It means removing the specific criminal sanctions attached to abortion. It would still be regulated, like any comparable form of healthcare, it would just stop women being investigated and threatened with life imprisonment, if they were suspected, by the police or their healthcare provider, of having an illegal abortion. Across the world, nearly 50 countries, provinces, and territories do not criminalise women who seek to end their pregnancy outside the law. These include Canada, New Zealand, and Northern Ireland. There is no evidence that decriminalising abortion would increase the sale of pills from non-licensed or non-reputable sellers. 'This doesn't happen in any country where abortion is decriminalised,' explains Louise McCudden, Head of External Affairs at MSI. 'On the contrary, the greater the legal restrictions on abortion, the more likely it is that some people fall outside the parameters of the law and end up purchasing pills online or ending their pregnancies in other ways.' Most people who get an abortion in the UK do so legally from a regulated, licensed provider, usually through the NHS (even if the provider is an independent charity like MSI Reproductive Choices UK or BPAS). 'Thanks to having a publicly funded health service which covers reproductive healthcare, there's a lot less room for opportunists to exploit gaps – but what we want to see is a situation where decriminalisation closes the potential for that altogether,' says McCudden. We are not asking for the time limit to be changed. Decriminilisation does not change the time limit, or any of the other regulations that currently surround abortion. 'In countries like Canada where abortion has been decriminalised, there has been no change in the average gestation at which abortion is carried out,' says McCudden. In the UK, in 2021, 89% of abortions took place before 10 weeks, with the overwhelming majority of the other 11% falling before 12 weeks. Only 1% take place over 20 weeks. The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists and other medical bodies continue to recommend abortion is provided up until 24 weeks, and beyond that only if there's an exceptional reason, like saving the pregnant person's life. 'Decriminalisation isn't about changing that, it's about saying that the time limit shouldn't be enforced by threatening women, who are often very vulnerable, with prison,' adds McCudden. 'The specific reform that we're backing from MPs right now is a very simple reform which removes the person ending their own pregnancy from criminal law without changing any other aspect of the law or provision. That means anyone providing abortion would still be subject to the same laws, including those which relate to time limits.' 'Abortion is one of the most heavily regulated areas of healthcare, despite being one of the safest and most common,' explains McCudden. 'None of this would change. The only aspect of the law that we are asking to change right now is that women themselves aren't investigated in relation to their own pregnancies. Regulations, time limits, licensing, safety, and safeguarding would remain exactly the same.' The police would be able to investigate people who sell unlicensed or unlawful abortion pills the same way they do now. 'It is extremely rare for anyone to end a pregnancy beyond the medically recommended time limit, and that continues to be true in countries where abortion has been decriminalised, like Canada,' explains McCudden. MSI Reproductive Choices work in 36 countries across the world. '89% of abortions in England and Wales take place under 10 weeks' gestation and only 1% take place over 20 weeks.' In the very rare event that an abortion is necessary to save the life of the pregnant person or if there is a serious risk of a foetal anomaly, abortion is currently legal beyond 24 weeks gestation – this accounts for just 0.1% of all abortion procedures. 'These cases involve extremely difficult decisions, especially for people who find themselves having to decide whether to terminate a wanted pregnancy because of an unexpected health risk,' McCudden explains. As for those who have, in very, very rare cases, ended their own pregnancy beyond the medically appropriate time limit, this is often under incredibly complex circumstances. 'People may not have the full nuance of this from media reports or even court documents,' McCudden explains. 'These can include coercion, trafficking, abuse, and sexual assault and are, unfortunately, not always documented or even recognised by parts of the criminal justice system.' Again, these cases where a woman ends their own pregnancy beyond the medically appropriate time limit, and where this isn't due to saving the life of the pregnant person or serious risk of a foetal anomaly, account for less than 0.1%. 'The idea of encouraging or discouraging an abortion is at odds with the reality of how people make decisions about their reproductive health,' says McCudden. 'If a pregnancy is wanted, why would somebody decide to have an abortion simply because the law has changed? Many factors play a part in why people need or choose an abortion, but I have never heard of a woman deciding to have an abortion purely because it's legal. The abortion rate does not rise when abortion is criminalised, and it doesn't fall when abortion access is restricted. If there's one thing we know from our global work it is that restricting abortion does not stop abortion happening – it simply makes it less safe.' As we have seen from the spike in investigations, prosecutions and new police guidance, this ancient law is being used more and more, in cases that have a profound, lasting and damaging impact on women's lives. This spike has also come at a time when far-right politicians are gaining traction in the UK (Nigel Farage has been quoted in a statement by an American organisation that campaigns to outlaw abortion entirely.) And, while the majority of the country is pro-choice, with 90% of us supporting access to abortion, we cannot underestimate the power (and money) being gained by groups who want to see our rights reversed, like they were in America. They can use this outdated law to help gain power of our bodily autonomy. We can't let their voice, which is the minority, become louder than ours. It's time to speak up. Catriona Innes is Commissioning Director at Cosmopolitan, you can follow her on Instagram. Catriona Innes is Cosmopolitan UK's multiple award-winning Commissioning Editor, who has won BSME awards both for her longform investigative journalism as well as for leading the Cosmopolitan features department. Alongside commissioning and editing the features section, both online and in print, Catriona regularly writes her own hard-hitting investigations spending months researching some of the most pressing issues affecting young women today. She has spent time undercover with specialist police forces, domestic abuse social workers and even Playboy Bunnies to create articles that take readers to the heart of the story. Catriona is also a published author, poet and volunteers with a number of organisations that directly help the homeless community of London. She's often found challenging her weak ankles in towering heels through the streets of Soho. Follow her on Instagram and Twitter.
Daily Mirror
26-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
'I'm terrified for women's future amid new police guidance on pregnancy loss'
Feminist speaker and activist Eliza Hatch shares her fears over the UK police's "invasive" guidance, which allows them to search women's phones in the case of suspected illegal abortion In news that sounds like it's come straight out of The Handmaid's Tale, the police have released new guidance that allows them to search your phone for period tracker apps in event of an unexpected pregnancy loss suspected to be abortion. Feminist speaker Eliza Hatch says she's now 'terrified' over what this means for women and people of marginalised genders. Eliza is an award-winning feminist photographer, speaker and educator. In 2017, she founded Cheer Up Luv, an internationally recognised photo and interview series which retells accounts of street harassment. Then in 2019, she co-founded the Hysteria Collective, which promotes arts and activism by people of marginalised genders. Speaking to The Mirror, Eliza says: 'I'm terrified for the future of women and people of marginalised genders rights in this country generally, and more specifically our bodily autonomy, healthcare and access to safe, legal and free abortions.' The guidance, released by the National Police Chiefs' Council (NPCC) in January, states that women who experience a sudden unexpected pregnancy loss, such as stillbirth or miscarriage, can have their homes searched and their phones seized if under investigation for a suspected illegal abortion. The NPCC said that investigators looking into the causes of stillbirth and miscarriage should look at digital devices to 'establish a woman's knowledge and intention in relation to the pregnancy' – which includes searching fertility and period tracking apps. In 1967, the Abortion Act was introduced to the UK, and allowed women to legally terminate a pregnancy up to 28 weeks with the certification of two doctors. In 1990, the limit was changed to 24 weeks. Eliza adds: 'This new police guidance is not only terrifying, it follows an incredibly invasive pattern of policing and criminalising of women's bodies, fuelled by influential anti-abortion groups funded by powerful religious organisations in the US. If we don't act now, we will follow in the US's footsteps of the far-right political overturn of our hard won rights.' The US has seen a sharp swing to far right politics over recent years. In June 2022, the Roe v Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court, which gave US women the constitutional right to abortion. Since then, 12 states have enacted near-total abortion bans, while four states have banned abortion past around six weeks of pregnancy. One of the most shocking outcomes of this has been the case of Adriana Smith, a braindead woman who is being forced to carry a baby to life due to Georgia's abortion laws, which bans termination after six weeks. As dystopian as the situation sounds, Eliza warns that, in many respects, UK abortion rights can be more constrictive. She says: 'We do not have the luxury of being complacent, of saying, 'oh well at least it's not as bad as the US'.' Providing an abortion in the UK carries a life sentence, due to what Eliza describes as a 'cruel, outdated Victorian law'. This is because it falls under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which carries a maximum life sentence. Eliza urges people to put pressure on the government, write to MPs and to 'lobby for our hard earned bodily autonomy as vocally and aggressively as anti-abortion groups who campaign against our hard won rights.' Otherwise, she fears that 'we are in serious danger of going in the same direction as a post Roe v Wade overturned America.'
Daily Mirror
22-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mirror
Police could check period tracking app after pregnancy loss under new guidance
New guidance from the National Police Chiefs Council allows police to search your home, seize your phone and check your period tracking apps after a pregnancy loss Guidance quietly released by the National Police Chiefs' Council in January states that women who experience a sudden unexpected pregnancy loss, if they suspect a miscarriage, stillbirth or early labour is the result of an illegal abortion could be investigated by the police. According to the guidance, women could have their homes searched for evidence of abortion drugs and their phones seized for their search history, period tracking apps or fertility apps checked for evidence of whether they were aware of their pregnancy. A spokesperson for the NPCC told The Standard that an investigation would only be initiated where there is credible information to suggest criminal activity. They said: "This would often be because of concerns raised from medical professionals.' They also told The Observer that unexpected pregnancy loss was not 'routinely investigated' and 'any investigation of this nature will always be treated with the utmost sensitivity and compassion'. The Mirror has reached out to the NPCC for comment. The guidance comes in light of the Abortion Act, introduced in 1967, which allows women to legally terminate a pregnancy up to 28 weeks and with the certification of two doctors. The limit was reduced to 24 weeks in 1990. However, abortion is still classed as a criminal offence in Britain and women could be prosecuted under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. Under the law, there have only been three conviction achieved, but criminal investigations into women who have suffered from miscarriages or had a premature or a stillbirth have recently increased. Six women have been taken to court over the past two years and over 100 women have been investigated, according to a report by the Independent. Later this year, an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill, brought by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi and signed by over 50 cross-party MPs seeks to decriminalising abortion and ending the prosecution of women who terminate pregnancies after the 24-week limit is due to be voted on in Parliament. But the recent guidance from the NPCC has raised concerns among pro-choice campaigners, abortion charities and period tracking apps alike, who have pushed back on the frightening development. Katie Saxon, Chief Strategic Communications Officer at the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, told the Mirror that this is a "clearest sign yet that women cannot rely on the police, the Crown Prosecution Service, or the courts to protect them." She said: "As an abortion provider, we know how the police treat women suspected of breaking abortion law. But to see it in black and white after years of criticisms of the way this outdated law is enforced is harrowing. 'This guidance was written at the same time as unprecedented threats to global abortion rights and while Parliament was set to consider decriminalising women," Saxon added. 'The only way to stop this is to remove women from the criminal law on abortion.' Saxon also condemned the NPCC's guidance for the police to use period trackers against women and said that it proves just how "detached from reality" the organisation is. Rhiannon White, CEO of period tracking app Clue revealed that they were "shocked and outraged" at the development and assured the Mirror in a statement that they "have never, and will never, disclose private health data to any authority. It's our firm and relentless commitment since our founding over a decade ago." Similarly, Flo 's Vice President of Privacy, Sue Khan told us: 'Women deserve to be able to use technology to learn more about their bodies and their personal health, without fearing their data will be unjustly used or taken in a way they have not agreed upon." If you have been affected by this story, advice and support can be found at Sands (stillbirth and neonatal death charity). You can call them on 0808 164 3332 or email helpline@ You can also find help and support at the Miscarriage Association. You can call them on 01924 200799 or email If you are pregnant or a new mother and you are in crisis, the National Maternal Mental Health Hotline provides free, confidential support 24/7 in English and Spanish. Call or text the hotline at 1-833-TLC-MAMA (1-833-852-6262).
