The recent sentencing of a woman to over a year in prison for inducing her own abortion after the legal limit drew significant attention to the Victorian laws that govern abortion in Britain.
This case represents a tragic situation. We are not calling to deregulate abortion, or to change abortion time limits, but to take it out of criminal law and regulate it as a medical procedure so that women across the UK have equal rights to abortion.
What is Humanists UK’s position on abortion?
Humanists UK campaigns in favour of women’s sexual and reproductive rights, in particular with respect to abortion. Our position on abortion is ‘pro-choice’. We are a member of the steering group of Voice for Choice, the coalition of UK pro-choice groups. We want women to have access to safe, legal, free, and local abortion services.
To find out more about our campaigns click here.
We are signed up to BPAS’ campaign to reform and decriminalise abortion law.
How many women are currently prosecuted for having an abortion?
During 2022 and 2023 four women have been charged with crimes under existing abortion law for ending or seeking to end their own pregnancies.
Stella Creasy MP recently stated in Parliament that there have been 67 prosecutions in the last 10 years under the Offences Against the Person Act.
What happened in the recent case?
Carla Foster, a mother of three, was sentenced to serve 14 months of a 28 month sentence in prison for using the pills by post scheme to have an abortion after the legal limit.
This case represents a tragic situation. The judge in his prosecution remarks noted that the ‘offence was committed against the backdrop of the first and most intense phase of lockdown at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.’ He also stated that ‘forced to stay at home, [she] moved back in with [her] long term but estranged partner while carrying another man’s child’ and accepted that she was in ‘emotional turmoil’ as she sought to hide the pregnancy. He said she was a ‘good mother to three children who would suffer from [her] imprisonment’ specifying that ‘one of [her] children himself has special needs which means he is particularly reliant upon [her] love and support’.
We do not believe the sentence is in anyone’s best interest. Carla needs compassion and support, not prison. Abortion should be a medical matter, not one for the police.
Are you seeking to change the time limits for abortion?
No, we do not support changing the abortion time limits.
We are campaigning to take abortion out of the criminal code, just as has happened in Northern Ireland, while keeping the timeframes that are currently in place.
What does the current abortion law in England and Wales say?
The Offences Against the Person Act 1861 in sections 58 and 59 mandates up to lifetime sentences for administering drugs or using instruments with the intention to end a pregnancy. This applies to both the pregnant woman and anybody who assists a woman to do so.
The Abortion Act 1967 provided an exemption to being found guilty of an offence under the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 if the abortion is carried by a registered medical practitioner (a doctor), if it is authorised by two doctors acting in good faith that certain other requirements are met
This 1967 law was a compromise between religious campaigners – who opposed abortion in any context whatsoever – and humanist and women’s liberty campaigners who wanted a rights-based approach in law, and, most pressingly, to bring about an end to dangerous backstreet abortions.
Why should abortion be decriminalised?
Cases like these show that women in desperate circumstances should be supported, not criminalised for having an abortion.
While the 1967 law opened up abortion access in England and Wales it did so under strict circumstances. We see no reason, for instance, why qualified nurses and midwives shouldn’t be able to carry out abortions and why the current law requires two doctors.
Women across the UK should have equal abortion rights. Whilst women in Northern Ireland can’t face criminal charges for having an abortion, women in England and Wales can.
Importantly, we need reform to treat and regulate abortion as healthcare, not a police matter.
Who is most harmed by the 1861 law?
The current law is particularly bad for vulnerable women whose circumstances mean they cannot readily access medical support in-person from a doctor.
This includes women who live in extreme fear of an abusive or coercive partner. But it also extends to other kinds of domestic abuse and coercive control.
One area where this particularly intersects with Humanists UK’s other work is the impact on ‘apostates’ and those living in extreme religious sects. Examples of this can include Plymouth Brethren, Charedi Jews, and certain Muslim sects. They may fear their parents or family members discovering that they are pregnant or considering an abortion. Retaliation and abuse faced in ‘apostates’ contexts may include shunning, social isolation, imprisonment, ‘exorcism’, ‘honour-based’ violence, and even murder.
Recent cases highlighting the 1861 law’s continued use also highlight how tragic situations are compounded by a punitive, draconian, criminalised framework to abortion. Under a fully medicalised abortion law, women in difficult circumstances like Carla’s would have had medical and psychological support much earlier in their pregnancy, and provided with expert support throughout.
What about Northern Ireland?
Northern Ireland is currently the only part of the UK where abortion is already fully decriminalised.
In fact, Northern Ireland is a great example of how simply the issue can be amended. In 2019, UK MPs voted to repeal Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act in Northern Ireland, and introduce regulations in civil law (covering things such as term limits) for abortion that mirrored the rules in Great Britain. This was done in a very short, simple amendment to the Executive Formation (Northern Ireland) Act. The same exact approach can and should be across the whole of the UK.
Do many other countries take this approach?
Yes! Besides Northern Ireland, which already adopted this approach when abortion reforms were passed in 2019, the vast majority of developed countries in the Northern Hemipshere already have fully decriminalised abortion law.
This includes countries like Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Ireland, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, Italy, Slovakia, Greece, Ukraine, Turkey, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, Korea, Russia, just to name a few.
The proposal to modernise abortion law in Great Britain is far from a ‘radical’ idea. It is in fact the global standard.
In this respect, England, Scotland, and Wales are extreme outliers, and this is why the UN has repeatedly called for UK politicians to reform these outdated laws!
How can I help?
Humanists UK has campaigned for abortion rights for over a century, and we were instrumental in the passage of both the 1967 Abortion Act in England and Wales and the 2019 Act in Northern Ireland.
Today, we are helping to galvanise the public debate on this issue and working with parliamentarians to bring forward an amendment or new Bill to make abortion law fit for a modern democratic country. This moment in time is critical and we rely on your support. Joining Humanists UK helps add muscle to this campaign and our wider work for a fairer, more rational society, or you can donate on a one-off basis using the link below. Thank you.
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