Petition signed
Before you leave…
Two MPs, Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy have tabled amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill that would make extreme changes to our abortion laws.
Both amendments would make it more likely that healthy babies are aborted at home for any reason, up to birth. Please take 30 seconds to:
Ask your MP to oppose new extreme abortion up to birth amendment
Your message has been sent to your MP
Join the many who have already contacted their MP
The proposed
changes to the law
10 reasons why they
need to be opposed
take action
Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy have tabled amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill that would make extreme changes to our abortion laws.
How would they change the law?
Both amendments would make it more likely that healthy babies are aborted at home for any reason, up to birth.
Diana Johnson’s amendment (NC1) would remove offences that make it illegal for a woman to perform her own abortion at any point right through to birth.
Stella Creasy’s amendment (NC40) would remove key deterrents against performing an abortion at any point right through to birth.
These amendments 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.
They would also lead to an increased number of viable 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.
Stella Creasy’s amendment would also remove key deterrents against hiding the body of a dead baby.
Both amendments would make it more likely that healthy babies are aborted at home for any reason, up to birth.
Diana Johnson’s amendment (NC1) would remove offences that make it illegal for a woman to perform her own abortion at any point right through to birth.
These deterrents are in place to help prevent individuals from obstructing an investigation into the cause of a child’s death when infanticide is suspected.
In addition, Stella Creasy’s amendment would also remove key safeguards provided by the Abortion Act through to 24 weeks.
Abortion would be available on demand, for any reason, up to 24 weeks.
Sex-selective abortion would become legal – women could obtain, and abortion providers could perform, abortions for sex-selective purposes up to 24 weeks.
The legal safeguard requiring two qualified doctors to approve an abortion would be removed, the legal requirement that abortions take place under the care of a qualified doctor would be removed and there would be no restrictions on where abortions could be performed.
There would be no legal deterrent against women performing their own abortions at home using abortion pills up to 24 weeks, beyond the current 10-week legal limit for at-home abortions. This would present a grave risk to women’s health.
Stella Creasy’s amendment (NC40) would remove key deterrents against performing an abortion at any point right through to birth.
These amendments 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.
They would also lead to an increased number of viable 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.
Stella Creasy’s amendment would also remove key deterrents against hiding the body of a dead baby.
These deterrents are in place to help prevent individuals from obstructing an investigation into the cause of a child’s death when infanticide is suspected.
In addition, Stella Creasy’s amendment would also remove key safeguards provided by the Abortion Act through to 24 weeks.
Abortion would be available on demand, for any reason, up to 24 weeks.
Sex-selective abortion would become legal – women could obtain, and abortion providers could perform, abortions for sex-selective purposes up to 24 weeks.
The legal safeguard requiring two qualified doctors to approve an abortion would be removed, the legal requirement that abortions take place under the care of a qualified doctor would be removed and there would be no restrictions on where abortions could be performed.
There would be no legal deterrent against women performing their own abortions at home using abortion pills up to 24 weeks, beyond the current 10-week legal limit for at-home abortions. This would present a grave risk to women’s health.
why these amendments need to be opposed
Abortion right up to and during birth
The proposed changes to the law would make it more likely that healthy babies are aborted at home for any reason, up to birth.
Diana Johnson’s amendment (NC1) would remove offences that make it illegal for a woman to perform her own abortion at any point right through to birth.
The amendment does not outline circumstances in which it would continue to be an offence for a woman to perform her own abortion – the changes to the law would apply throughout all nine months of pregnancy and would not exclude sex-selective abortions.
By amending the abortion law in this way, self-abortions will, de facto, become possible up to birth for any reason including abortions for sex-selective purposes, as women could mislead abortion providers about their gestational age (as in the case of Carla Foster, who pretended to be 7 weeks pregnant but took pills at 32-34 weeks gestation).
Stella Creasy’s amendment (NC40) would remove key deterrents against performing an abortion at any point right through to birth.
By removing the possibility of custodial sentences for abortions after 24 weeks and not suggesting any meaningful alternative sanctions, the amendment would remove a key deterrent against late-term abortions.
The amendment would also require the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) personally to approve prosecutions of women or abortion providers who perform abortions after the legal limit up to birth. This would introduce an extra hurdle before prosecutions can take place, which may deter police investigations, making abortions up to birth more likely. It would also likely lead to unreasonable pressure being placed on the DPP.
These amendments 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.
They would also likely lead to an increased number of viable 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.
Sex-selective abortion would become legal
Sex-selective abortion usually targets baby girls due to a preference among certain parents and some cultures for having sons.
The Government maintains that, under our current legislation, abortion on the grounds of the sex of the baby is illegal because it is “not one of the lawful grounds for termination of pregnancy” set out in the Abortion Act (which stipulates that abortion can only be performed under specific grounds).
Under Stella Creasy’s amendment (NC40), the Abortion Act and the grounds under which abortion is permitted would be made redundant up to 24 weeks, allowing abortion on demand, for any reason, including sex-selective abortion.
Sex-selective abortion would be available on-demand through to 24 weeks.
Diana Johnson’s amendment (NC1) would remove offences that make it illegal for a woman to perform her own abortion at any point right through to birth.
The amendment does not outline circumstances in which it would continue to be an offence for a woman to perform her own abortion – the changes to the law would apply throughout all nine months of pregnancy and would not exclude sex-selective abortions.
Making it easier to cover up infanticides
Infanticide is the intentional killing of a baby after they are born.
Stella Creasy’s amendment (NC40) would remove key deterrents against hiding the body of a dead baby included in Section 60 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861.
Section 60 makes it an offence to conceal the birth of a child by hiding the dead body of a child after its birth, including in circumstances when the baby has been killed through infanticide.
Section 60 is used when an unlawful death is suspected but cannot be proven since the crime, in itself, is the secret disposal of the dead body. If Section 60 were disapplied or meaningful sanctions removed in certain circumstances, it may become easier to illegally cause or allow the death of a child and hide the body, if there were evidentiary difficulties in proving the other crime(s).
Section 60 is important in stopping individuals from preventing an investigation into the cause of a child’s death when infanticide is suspected.
Stella Creasy’s amendment would disapply Section 60 for women who perform their own abortions and abortion providers up to 24 weeks gestation.
This could make it harder for police to investigate abortions that take place as a result of trafficking or abuse, since it would no longer be an offence for a woman or abortion provider, with the woman’s consent, to conceal or dispose of a dead baby after an abortion up to 24 weeks.
Stella Creasy’s amendment also introduces an extra hurdle before prosecutions can take place under Section 60 in relation to abortions after 24 weeks through to birth by requiring the Director of Public Prosecutions (DPP) personally to approve such prosecutions. This may deter police investigations, making offences more likely.
Stella Creasy’s amendment further removes the threat of custodial sentences for women who conceal the birth of a child after 24 weeks.
This would remove a deterrent against infanticide after cases of failed abortions as a woman could dispose of or hide a baby’s body with minimal criminal sanctions against doing so.
Failed abortions will likely be more common if Stella Creasy’s amendment passes as it would likely lead to an increase in late-term abortions.
Data from Victoria, Australia, shows that there have been a large number of babies surviving abortion since abortion was decriminalised and there have been reports that babies have been ‘left to die’ after these abortions.
The amendment would also likely mean the bodies of dead babies after abortions could more easily be disposed of without a proper burial or in a location where it might cause distress to others when later found.
Series of key safeguards provided by the Abortion Act would be removed
Stella Creasy’s amendment (NC40) would remove a series of key safeguards provided by the Abortion Act through to 24 weeks.
The amendment would remove offences for women and doctors committed under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act (OAPA) and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act (ILPA) through to 24 weeks.
As the Abortion Act 1967 was passed to create exemptions to sections 58 and 59 of the OAPA and the ILPA, removing such offences committed under sections 58 and 59 of the OAPA and the ILPA would make key safeguards provided by the Abortion Act 1967 redundant through to 24 weeks.
This means:
Our increasing understanding of life before birth
Our increasing understanding of life before birth shows the humanity of the unborn child and its development through all nine months of pregnancy.
All development milestones are sourced from the NHS pregnancy week-by-week resource. Unless otherwise captioned, images for each milestone are an artist’s render based on 3D models of the unborn child.
Key milestones
By 24 weeks gestation, the current gestational limit for abortion, the baby has already been fully formed for 12 weeks. Please note: The ages referenced below are gestational ages dated from the first day of the mother’s last menstrual period (LMP). The abortion limit of 24 weeks in England and Wales is measured by gestational age.
Week 12
At 12 weeks gestation (the most common abortion time limit among countries in the EU), the NHS outlines that the unborn baby is fully formed. All the organs, muscles, limbs and bones are in place, and the sex organs are well developed. From then on, the baby just “has to grow and mature”.
Week 15
At around this time, the unborn baby will start to hear – they may hear muted sounds from the outside world, as well as the sound of their mother’s voice and heart.
Week 16
The muscles of the unborn baby’s face can now move and the beginnings of facial expressions appear.
Week 23
The unborn baby’s lungs are practising breathing movements to prepare for life outside the womb.
Week 25
The unborn baby is moving about a lot and responds to touch and sound. A very loud noise may make them jump and kick, and their mother will be able to feel this. Sometimes the baby may get hiccups and the mother may feel the jerk of each hiccup.
Week 26
The unborn baby’s eyelids open for the first time around now and they will soon start blinking.
Week 30
The unborn baby’s sucking reflex is developing by now and he or she can suck their thumb or fingers.
Week 32
By about 32 weeks gestation, the unborn baby is usually lying with their head pointing downwards, ready for birth. This is known as cephalic presentation.
Week 34
The unborn baby’s bones are continuing to harden, apart from the skull bones. These will stay soft and separated until after the birth to make the journey through the birth canal easier. The bones can move gently and slide over each other so the head can be born safely while still protecting the brain.
Week 35
The unborn baby is curled up in the uterus now, with legs bent up towards their chest. There’s little room to move about, but they’ll still change position, so the mother will still feel movements and be able to see them on the surface of her bump.
Week 37
At 37 weeks gestation, the pregnancy is considered full-term. The average unborn baby weighs around 3-4kg by now. The unborn baby is ready to be born.
Week 40
The fine hair (lanugo) that covered the unborn baby’s body is now almost all gone, although some babies may have small patches of it when they’re born.
The proposed changes to the law would make it more likely that healthy babies are aborted at home for any reason, including sex-selective purposes, at any of the stages above, right up to and during birth.
We already have an extreme abortion law – we don’t need to make it worse
Our abortion law is already extreme, with our time limit double that of the most common abortion limit among EU countries.
In most European Union (EU) countries, abortion is only legal on demand or on broad social grounds up to 12 weeks gestation, making legislation in the United Kingdom double the average among EU countries.
When compared to almost every European Union country, it is clear that the United Kingdom is an outlier.
Among the 27 countries that are member states of the European Union, three have a time limit for abortion on demand or on broad social grounds at 10 weeks, one country at 11 weeks, 15 countries at 12 weeks, 3 countries at 14 weeks and two countries only allow abortion in very limited circumstances.
Countries with 12-week limits for abortion on demand or on broad social grounds include Germany, Italy and Belgium as well as the more “liberal” Nordic countries Denmark and Finland. Even Sweden has a time limit for abortion on demand or on broad social grounds that is much lower than the United Kingdom at 18 weeks.
Over 750 medical professionals have called for MPs to oppose making extreme changes to abortion legislation
Over 750 medical professionals have signed an open letter to MPs opposing making extreme changes to abortion legislation part of the Criminal Justice Bill.
In the open letter they way warn “If offences that make it illegal for a woman to perform her own abortion at any gestation were repealed, such abortions would, de facto, become possible up to birth for any reason including abortions for sex-selective purposes, as women could mistakenly or wilfully mislead abortion providers about their gestational age”.
They go on to highlight that extreme changes to the law would also likely lead to serious risks to women’s health because of the dangers involved with self-administered late abortions.
“The Government’s own recent review of abortion complications in England from 2017 to 2021 found that the complication rate for medical abortions that happen in a clinical setting is 160 times higher for abortions at 20 weeks and over compared with medical abortions under 10 weeks. The complication rate is likely to be far higher for women performing their own abortions at home without medical supervision well beyond the current 24-week time limit”.
They have then urged parliament to reintroduce in-person appointments rather than making the situation worse by introducing extreme changes to abortion legislation.
“We also urge Parliament to restore in-person appointments before women may be prescribed abortion pills in order to accurately assess their gestational age and health. This is an important part of safeguarding (to protect against coerced abortion) and would enable healthcare professionals to ensure it is both medically and legally appropriate for a woman to be prescribed abortion pills”.
Polling shows the vast majority of the public do not support introducing abortion up to birth or sex-selective abortion
Polling undertaken by ComRes, who have undertaken polls for the BBC, ITV, The Independent and Sky News, shows that only 1% of women support introducing abortion up to birth and 70% of women would support a reduction in the time limit from 24 weeks to 20 weeks or below. 91% of women also oppose sex-selective abortion.
The same polling showed 60% of both Conservative and Labour voters supported a reduction in the time limit to 20 weeks or below. 65% of Liberal Democrat voters were in favour of a reduction in the abortion time limit to 20 weeks or below. Significantly, among those with children aged 18 or under in their household, 69% supported reducing the abortion limit to 20 weeks gestation or below.
The polling also showed that 89% of the general population oppose sex-selective abortion.
Polling published by the Daily Telegraph shows that more than half of the general public agree that it should remain the case that a woman is breaking the law if she has an abortion of a healthy baby after the current 24-week legal time limit up until birth. Only 16% disagreed.
A separate poll from Ipsos released in August 2023 shows that only 36% of the British population think abortion should be legal during the first 20 weeks of pregnancy. This is a significant decrease in support for abortion up to 20 weeks from the previous year conducted by the same polling organisation where 40% of people in Great Britain thought abortion should be legal in the first 20 weeks.
High-profile ‘pro-choice’ commentators are saying this goes “too far”
A number of high-profile commentators in the media, some of whom take a pro-choice position on abortion, have come out against making extreme changes to abortion legislation, saying the proposals go “too far”.
This has been accompanied by a large amount of mainstream media coverage covering the many problems with these proposals, and covering other voices who are speaking out against them.
We have included some of this coverage below:
There is a better way forward
The real cause of the, albeit relatively small, recent number of cases of illegal late-term abortions is the ‘pills-by-post’ scheme, which was supported by Diana Johnson, Stella Creasy, and leading abortion providers BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices (Marie Stopes).
The changes to the law proposed by Stella Creasy and Diana Johnson would make this situation worse, likely leading to more women self-administering abortion pills to procure late-term abortions, causing serious risks to their health (the return of the ‘backstreet abortion’).
Rather than making the situation worse and making our abortion laws even more extreme, Parliament ought to protect women by seeking the reinstatement of the requirement for in-person medical appointments to verify gestational age and assess a woman’s health before abortion pills can be prescribed.
Carla Lockhart, MP for Upper Bann, has introduced an Early Day Motion (EDM) to reinstate in-person appointments before a medical abortion as an important safeguard for the safety of women and to help prevent abortion coercion.
In an apparent reference to the recent tragic case of Carla Foster who had an illegal abortion at between 32 and 34 weeks gestation, the EDM notes that “recent illegal late-term abortions of viable unborn babies would not have been able to occur had in-person appointments to accurately assess gestational age been required”.
The EDM was launched in support of the At Home Early Medical Abortion (Review) Bill currently making its way through the House of Lords. The Bill specifically requires the Government to review whether in-person medical appointments, during which the gestational age of the pregnancy can be accurately determined before an at-home abortion occurs, should be reinstated.
