Women's History Month: Decriminalisation of Abortions in England and Wales

At the end of the month, MPs are due to vote on amending the Offences Against a Person Act (1861), ending persecution of women terminating pregnancies past 24 weeks.

The Abortion Act, passed in 1968, only partially decriminalised abortions as it provided exceptions to the pre-existing Offences Against a Person Act (OAAP) Act. Women could get an abortion if their pregnancy was under 24 weeks and two medical practitioners could confirm that - or if it was necessary for a termination to take place to prevent physical or mental harm. If a woman was seeking an abortion purely because she didn’t want a child, then she may not be able to have one - unless she could identify with a mental health justification. 

Due to abortions not being entirely decriminalised, at least 17 women have been investigated for their abortions over the last eight years, according to the Right To Equality campaign, and it’s seeming as though a majority of those women come from vulnerable backgrounds. The British Pregnancy Advisory Services (BPSA) found that in 2020 women from more impoverished backgrounds accounted for 16.5% abortions, whereas wealthier women only made up only 5.9%.

Louise McCudden, Head of External Affairs at MSI Reproductive Choices believes this will be a step in the right direction, but said: “The immediate issue is women facing investigations and prosecutions, so that is why this amendment is very narrow.”

Evie Turner, International Relations Student at University of Leicester said: “part of me thinks that the public view on abortion will overrule anything parliament says if they end up not decriminalising it.”

However, the vote is appearing to favour the idea of passing the changes to the 1800’s act, and stopping the investigations of terminated pregnancies past 24 weeks.

Though there is not a date set for the vote as of yet, however, it is expected to take place on the week commencing March 18.