UK Parliament Moves Towards Decriminalizing Late-Term Abortions

The United Kingdom’s Parliament has taken initial steps toward making late-term abortions decriminalized. This comes after the House of Commons voted, with a count of 379 to 137, to support an amendment in a larger crime bill that could protect women from prosecution for abortions conducted after the legal limit, potentially even up to birth.

Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, who introduced the amendment, emphasized the need for this change, highlighting that over 100 women had been investigated in the last five years for suspected illegal abortions. “This piece of legislation will only take women out of the criminal justice system because they are vulnerable and they need our help,” she claimed. Antoniazzi questioned the public interest served by such prosecutions, calling it cruelty that must end.

Prior adjustments to the law during the COVID-19 pandemic allowed women to receive abortion pills by mail within the first ten weeks of pregnancy. Nonetheless, some women have faced legal action for obtaining abortion drugs to terminate pregnancies extending beyond 24 weeks.

A notable case from 2023 involved a mother of three who received a two-year prison sentence for inducing an abortion while eight months pregnant. Her sentence was later reduced, as an appeals court determined her case demanded “compassion, not punishment.” The court emphasized that incarcerating her lacked any meaningful purpose.

On the other hand, the proposed changes have drawn opposition. Alithea Williams from the UK Society for the Protection of Unborn Children voiced strong concerns, branding the amendment as extreme. “If this clause becomes law, a woman who aborts her baby at any point in pregnancy, even moments before birth, would not be committing a criminal offense,” she argued. Williams also accused the abortion lobby of exploiting the situation, noting that prosecutions for abortion remain minimal—often in the single digits—and stemmed from the very policy they support.