We wanted to update you following tonight’s abortion up to birth vote in the House of Lords.
Unfortunately, Peers have voted by 185 to 148 against Baroness Monckton’s amendment (424) to overturn the extreme abortion up to birth clause in the Crime and Policing Bill.
Baroness Stroud’s amendment (425) to reinstate in-person consultations with a medical professional prior to an abortion taking place at home was also rejected by Peers who voted by 191 to 119 against it.
If the Crime and Policing Bill receives Royal Assent, it will no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions, for any reason, including sex-selective purposes, and at any point up to and during birth.
This change to the law would likely lead to a significant increase in the number of women performing late-term abortions at home, endangering the lives of many more women.
It would also likely lead to an increased number of babies’ lives being ended well beyond the 24-week abortion time limit and beyond the point at which they would be able to survive outside the womb.
NEXT STEPS
While the result tonight is tragic, we want you to know it is incredibly important that we fight on.
You may recall that there were two proposed changes brought forward in the House of Commons last June.
The Antoniazzi amendment, which passed and went on to become part of the Bill, and another, even more extreme amendment, tabled by Stella Creasy MP, did not go to a vote and so did not become part of the Bill.
If Stella Creasy’s amendment had become part of the Bill and then gone on to become law, the abortion lobby would have arrived at their end goal all in one go – abortion would have been available in abortion clinics around the country on demand, for any reason, up to birth.
The time limit, two-doctor rule, and a series of other safeguards provided by the Abortion Act would have gone.
The UK would have been left with the world’s most extreme abortion law.
In New Zealand in 2020, abortion was decriminalised, and the country saw a 43% increase in late-term abortions in 2020.
The law change Stella Creasy proposed was more extreme than the law in New Zealand.
This would have likely led to a very large increase in later-term abortions. In addition, because the other safeguards provided by the Abortion Act that help save lives would have been removed, it is likely there would have been a large increase in abortions at all gestations.
While it is good that this more extreme amendment did not pass in the Commons in June last year, it shows where the abortion lobby ultimately wants to go with our abortion laws.
We expect it will not be long before the abortion lobby is back with another similar proposal.
So, defensive work to ensure the abortion lobby is unsuccessful at making our abortion law even worse, and therefore ending even more lives through abortion, is going to be just as important as it ever has been from now on.
What the abortion lobby wants for the UK is way out of step with where the public stands on the issue of abortion.
As you may be aware, polling shows that 89% of the general population and 91% of women agree that gender-selective abortion should be explicitly banned by the law – and only 1% of women support introducing abortion up to birth.
The same polling shows that 60% of the general population and 70% of women want to see our abortion time limit lowered to 20 weeks or below.
So although tonight’s result is deeply disappointing, the case for positive change that will save lives remains strong – and there is still so much more work to do.
Finally, thank you for all you have done to help in the battle on this clause in the Commons and the Lords – and everything you have done to help with the significant victory in the Scottish Parliament last night when the McArthur assisted suicide Bill was defeated at Stage 3. We battle on.
