MPs urge Mahmood and Streeting to block abortion decriminalisation

More than 70 MPs and Peers have written to the Home Secretary, Shabana Mahmood, and the Health Secretary, Wes Streeting, to ask them to “hit pause” on the plans to decriminalise abortions up to birth.

The measures to decriminalise abortion up to birth were added to the Crime and Policing Bill by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi. It was approved by the House of Commons last year, and the House of Lords voted against an amendment to remove the clause last week. Peers are expected to vote to approve the Bill on Wednesday.

Over 70 parliamentarians have signed the letter to Shabana Mahmood and Wes Streeting protesting the change. The signatories include seven Labour MPs, all eight Reform UK MPs, two members of the Conservative shadow cabinet, and Baroness Spielman, former head of the British Medical Association.

The addition to the Crime and Policing Bill would remove “the threat of investigation, arrest, prosecution or imprisonment” from women who have late-term abortions, especially by using the ‘pills by post’ scheme established during the coronavirus pandemic.

The letter warns that the legislation surrounding decriminalisation “lacked any consultation, impact assessment or meaningful scrutiny”. They also warned that the move to decriminalise abortion up to birth raises many legal and ethical issues, such as whether doctors would be allow to intervene if a woman took abortion pills late in a pregnancy and needed medical help. They ask for assurances that paramedics who treat a woman who has undergone a late-stage abortion would still seek to save a child’s life.

Catherine Robinson, spokesperson for Right to Life UK, who organised the letter, said: “Pro-abortion MPs hijacked a government bill to rush through this radical and seismic change to our abortion laws after just 46 minutes of backbench debate. This was the first time this extreme amendment had been debated in Parliament. There had been no prior public consultation, no impact assessment, and no evidence sessions on this far-reaching change to our laws.”

She added: “Bringing the abortion up to birth clause into force before a proper impact assessment has been produced, and before police, prosecutors and healthcare professionals have been given clear guidance on these and other serious issues, would be deeply irresponsible.”