Latest news with #BPAS
BBC News
3 days ago
- Health
- BBC News
Mayor calls on Transport for London to cancel abortion advert ban
The mayor of London is calling on Transport for London (TfL) to lift its ban on adverts that campaign for the decriminalisation of Sadiq Khan is "urgently" looking into the banned British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) adverts, which share stories of police investigations into women - some of who were prosecuted for having an Stewart, chief executive of BPAS, said the adverts supported Tonia Antoniazzi MP's amendment to the Crime and Policing a letter sent to BPAS, TfL said the campaign made "serious allegations about the police" and could bring TfL or the Mayor's Office for Policing and Crime (MOPAC) into disrepute". TfL was contacted for comment. One of MOPAC's functions is to hold the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS) Commissioner to account, TfL said in its said that MOPAC's functions in respect of the force were "to some extent regulatory", adding that "the nature of the copy could bring MOPAC into disrepute given its responsibilities in relation to the MPS". A spokesperson for Sir Sadiq said the mayor had "stepped in"."We are now urgently looking into this issue so we can allow adverts from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service on London's transport network," they said. A spokesperson for BPAS said they had not been contacted by the mayor's office directly and said the campaign had a "very narrow window."Ms Heidi Stewart said: "This is a pivotal moment for MPs to reform our abortion law and prevent more women from suffering the trauma and injustice of police investigations and the risk of criminalisation. "Ahead of the vote in parliament, it is absolutely vital that the voices of the women who have been so deeply harmed by the current law are allowed to be heard. "We urge the mayor to take swift action and allow our charity to share these stories as a matter of urgency."
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Daily Mirror
'7 police officers raided my house while I tried to resuscitate my baby'
A leading abortion charity shares the gut-wrenching stories of three women who have been accused of having an illegal abortion under Britain's "archaic" abortion laws On the back of an MPs debate over an e-petition calling for the decriminalisation of abortion in the UK, the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) has shared three harrowing cases of women affected under what have been described by campaigners as 'archaic' laws around women's bodily autonomy. Each year, around 60,000 babies are born prematurely in the UK, according to the NHS. One was born to Sammy*, who went into premature labour at home. But as she resuscitated her baby, seven police officers searched her bins, before the paramedics had even arrived. Sammy was then interviewed by police under caution for a suspected illegal abortion and her phone and computer were seized. Her home was sealed off 'like a crime scene'. She was left in the clothes she was admitted to hospital in, and was barred from contacting her partner. Despite providing forensic samples that did not show the presence of abortion drugs, she remained under police investigation for a year. Her baby had luckily survived despite the traumatic birth. However, Sammy was only allowed limited, supervised contact with them. As horrific as this scenario sounds, it's one that has been made possible through the current laws surrounding abortion in the UK. The Abortion Act was introduced in 1967 and allowed women to terminate a pregnancy up to 28 weeks with the certification of two doctors. In 1990, the limit was changed to 24 weeks. Meanwhile, the punishment for abortion can be severe. Abortion laws in the UK still fall under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which means that undergoing an abortion without the permission of two doctors, or after 24 weeks, can carry a life sentence. 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. Katherine O'Brien, a spokesperson for BPAS, says that more than a hundred women have been investigated by the police over recent years. She told The Mirror: "These include women who have experienced a late miscarriage or a stillbirth, and women who were pressured to take abortion medication by abusive partners. Women have been arrested straight from hospital wards, their homes searched, their children taken away, all under our cruel and archaic abortion law." In December 2024, an e-petition calling for the decriminalisation of abortion in the UK. It received 102,855 signatures, before being brought to the UK parliament in April. The petition 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.' These laws affect women at all different stages in life. For example, Laura*, already the mother to a toddler, was studying at university when she pled guilty to ending her own pregnancy using illicit medication. She was told by prosecution that if she didn't plead guilty she would likely be jailed for life. She ended up being sentenced to more than two years in prison. She reported to BPAS at the time that she was in a physically, sexually, and emotionally abusive relationship, and that her partner told her not to go to the doctor. After she was arrested, he told her that he would kill her if she told anyone he was involved. He was never investigated by the police. Meanwhile, Sophie* was just a teenager when she was arrested at midnight and held in custody for 19 hours. She was suspected of ending her own pregnancy using illicit medication. In fact, the police raid was the first time her parents learnt that she had been pregnant. She was described by the prosecution as 'being vulnerable'. Despite this, she faced two trials. Throughout the proceedings, she maintained that she had had a traumatic stillbirth after only finding out she was pregnant after 24 weeks. The charge that she had ended her own pregnancy was dropped, but only after six years, and she still received a criminal record.
Daily Mirror
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mirror
Abortion rights activists say 'decriminalisation isn't enough' ahead of MP vote
As MPs gather to debate an e-petition calling for the decriminalisation of abortion on June 2, abortion rights campaigners explain why decriminalisation isn't enough to protect women After an e-petition calling for the decriminalisation of abortion received over 100,000 signatures, it's now been brought forward for a parliamentary debate on June 2. But some abortion rights campaigners are saying that decriminalisation isn't enough. At present, an abortion carried out after 24 weeks or without permission from two doctors is a punishable offence in the UK, with a potential sentence of life imprisonment. In December 2024, a petition was launched by campaigners to decriminalise abortion. It received 102,855 signatures, before being brought to the UK parliament. The petition 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.' The petition also pointed out that the UK is out of step with advice released by the World Health Organisation in 2022, which advises that medically unnecessary barriers to safe abortion, such as criminalisation, should be removed. The petition was delivered on April 28 to Downing Street, by the petition's creator Gemma Clark. She was joined by Katie Saxon and Lucy Ward from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), a charity leading the campaign for abortion law reform, and a woman who endured a police investigation after she was suspected of having an illegal abortion, as reported by BPAS. Katherine O'Brien, a spokesperson for BPAS, told The Mirror: 'In recent years, more than 100 women are believed to have been investigated by the police.' She continued: 'These include women who have experienced a late miscarriage or a stillbirth, and women who were pressured to take abortion medication by abusive partners. Women have been arrested straight from hospital wards, their homes searched, their children taken away, all under our cruel and archaic abortion law.' The Abortion Act was introduced 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. However, abortion law also falls under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act, which carries a maximum life sentence. Elizabeth Walden, from MSI Reproductive Choices, told The Mirror why she believes the law is outdated. She said: 'Gender equality and medicine have both changed enormously since then. Our abortion laws should reflect today's common values and medical knowledge, not the opinions of men from nearly two centuries ago.' Labour MP Stella Creasy has put forward an amendment to the current lawwhich seeks to not only decriminalise abortion, but to put into law that access to abortion is a human right. Stella told The Mirror: 'Decriminalisation isn't enough. We need to make access to safe and legal abortion a human right as it is in Northern Ireland to protect services from politicians who are advocating restricting it.' In 2019, Northern Ireland repealed sections 58 and 59 of the 1861 Offences Against a Person Act, which meant that abortion was no longer an offence punishable by a life sentence. It is legal to have an abortion up until 12 weeks in Northern Ireland. Stella explained that her amendment aims "to help ensure women will be able to access a safe and legal abortion whoever is in power." She continued: "It is the only amendment that can do that and stop not just the investigations into women having abortions but attacks on access including attempts to overturn buffer zones and telemedicine.' "Telemedicine" refers to the use of technology to provide and support healthcare remotely. In 2020, at-home abortion pills were legalised for the first time due to restrictions enforced during the Covid pandemic. In August of 2020, this change was made permanent. Under Stella's amendment, she seeks to protect anyone acting 'in relation to their own pregnancy', or a registered medical professional acting with the "explicit consent" of a pregnant woman where the pregnancy has not exceeded 24 weeks, to be subjected to a custodial sentence. Equally, she seeks to provide alternative offences in the case of women who have not or are suspected to have not consented to their abortion.
Cosmopolitan
27-05-2025
- 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.
Business Mayor
19-05-2025
- Politics
- Business Mayor
Why abortion rights in the UK are getting more and more perilous
E arlier this month, Nicola Packer was found not guilty of illegally terminating a pregnancy, after taking abortion pills beyond the legal limit of 10 weeks. She had spent more than four years living in the shadow of this prosecution, every detail of which – as reported by Phoebe Davis – is completely harrowing. In 2020, Packer was arrested before she left Chelsea and Westminster hospital, still bleeding from major surgery. Nicola Packer. Photograph: Jill Mead/The Guardian Packer is one of six women to be prosecuted for this crime in England since the end of 2022, under the Offences Against the Person Act, which had previously only been used in such cases three times since its introduction in 1861. Even that striking, inexplicable figure doesn't begin to describe how many people have fallen victim to these prosecutions. There have been cases of women denied contact with their children while police investigated a charge that came to nothing. A teenager who had a late miscarriage was arrested in front of her entire street – her privacy, her education, her peace of mind completely destroyed. The consequences are so dire if you get caught in this net that informed women would rightly think twice about being honest with healthcare professionals – so quality of care is undermined for everyone. And while attempts are being made in parliament to take abortion legislation out of criminal law altogether, so that no woman is ever prosecuted in this intrusive and barbaric way in the future, as things stand at the moment, the situation is getting more perilous for women, not less. Read More Family law solicitor makes fashion dreams reality Campaigners in the field – notably Jonathan Lord, who is co-chair of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists abortion taskforce, and Hayley Webb, co-chair of Doctors for Choice UK – believe that some midwives and nurses are mistaken or confused about their duty of patient confidentiality. Abortion providers such as the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) wonder whether the emergency measures taken during Covid – to allow abortion pills to be prescribed remotely, rather than in person – have ushered in new anxiety around women's autonomy. Last December the National Police Chiefs' Council issued new guidance on 'child death investigation', advising that women's devices be checked for period tracker apps, Google searches, any communications that might 'establish a woman's knowledge and intention in relation to the pregnancy'. When Hampshire police found a human placenta in woodland in 2023, they asked BPAS for a full list of women who had made inquiries about a termination and then disengaged. BPAS was astonished by the request – it could have swept in hundreds of women, and didn't even have the legitimacy of a court order. Sometimes it is the police that seem overzealous, as in Packer's case; the Crown Prosecution Service wanted to drop it, and the Met successfully appealed that decision. Ultimately, though, it would be far-fetched to try to chase down a new anti-abortion tendency in assorted police forces. If there are increasing numbers of investigations and prosecutions, which there are, it is for the director of public prosecutions for England and Wales to explain why. Two years ago, I sought that explanation from the then DPP, Max Hill KC. The most formulaic response came back: he said he had 'a duty to ensure that laws set by parliament are properly considered and applied when making difficult charging decisions'. This law having been in place for more than 150 years, further explanation would have been helpful as to why that duty had become so pressing after 2020. Hill was succeeded the same year by Stephen Parkinson, who is now being urged by campaigners to do a more robust public interest test on cases like Packer's. Many women's groups question whether there is ever a public interest case for prosecuting a woman under these circumstances. It remains unknown what is driving these prosecutions, between an excess of caution post-Covid, a new wave of cultural misogyny finding its expression in reproductive surveillance, and a failure of institutional memory on the part of some healthcare workers as to what their duties are to their patients – or all these factors and more in some tangled feedback loop. Whatever the cause, everyone must now do their bit. Parliamentarians must take abortion out of the criminal law altogether, and the law itself, in the meantime, must rediscover its proportionality and reason.
