Activists Fear Law to Decriminalise Late-Term Self-Abortion Will Go Ahead

Published on January 29, 2024

Activists are expressing major concerns about a push to decriminalise late-term abortions performed at home with pills. Last week, an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill to remove criminal offences that make it illegal to perform a self-abortion at any point was withdrawn, though activists fear it could be brought back at another stage. Abortions are legal in England if a registered medical practitioner performs them and they take place within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. They can only be carried out in hospitals or clinics after ten weeks. The amendment, introduced last year introduced by a coalition of MPs including Labour’s’ Stella Creasy and Diana Johnson, would have repealed sections 58, 59 and 60 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861....