Growing up in Ireland before the Eighth Amendment was repealed in 2018, everyone knew what reference to a female friend or relative’s “trip to England” really meant. It was a code for seeking an abortion, a procedure that had been illegal in Ireland since 1861. The restrictive laws forced thousands of women and girls to travel to Britain for abortions, often at great expense.
Between 2010 and 2015, nearly 25,000 women and girls from both the North and the Republic of Ireland made the journey to Britain for abortions. The cost of the procedure, along with travel and accommodation expenses, made it a difficult and often unaffordable option for many. MP Stella Creasy, who is involved in today’s Parliamentary vote on the decriminalisation of abortion, has highlighted the exorbitant costs faced by Northern Irish women, with some having to pay up to £1,400 for the procedure.
As someone who grew up in Ireland during this time, I saw firsthand how these restrictive laws affected the women and girls close to me. My teenage friends whispered about unsafe “procedures” that they had undergone to terminate an unplanned pregnancy. We also read with horror about the death of Savita Halappanavar, a woman who was denied an abortion and died from complications during her pregnancy.
Back then, the UK was seen as a comparative bastion of abortion rights, a safe haven for women seeking sometimes life-changing healthcare. However, today, as Parliament votes on whether to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales, I was shocked to learn that abortion is still technically illegal in these countries. In fact, it was only in 2019 that abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland.
So, what are the current abortion laws in England and Wales? To be honest, I had no idea that in these countries, which I had always thought were more pro-choice than Ireland, abortion is still considered a criminal act. The Offences Against the Person Act 1861, written before women had the right to vote in the UK, made abortion a crime. While the Abortion Act 1967 does allow for abortion under certain circumstances, recent cases have shown that more women are being prosecuted for suspected illegal abortions.
One such case is that of Nicola Packer, who was cleared of illegally terminating her pregnancy after taking abortion pills during the Covid-19 pandemic. Despite using a registered provider and being covered by emergency lockdown rules that allowed for online ordering of abortion pills up to 10 weeks into a pregnancy, Packer still faced criminal charges. This case highlights the harsh reality that even in the UK, women can still be prosecuted for seeking an abortion.
The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has also expressed concern over the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s new guidance on child death investigation, which instructs police to search for evidence of illegal abortion in the homes of women who have experienced unexpected pregnancy loss. The RCOG has called this guidance “truly shocking” and has warned that it may deter women from seeking urgent medical attention.
This is not the reality I had imagined for a country that I had once seen as a safe haven for women seeking abortion. Today’s vote in Parliament is therefore critical in bringing about much-needed change.
The vote taking place today involves two proposed amendments. The first, put forward by Tonia Antoniazzi, would see women and girls face no criminal charges for ending their own pregnancy. However, medical staff and activists who assist in the procedure would not be protected, which has raised concerns about the safety of healthcare workers.
The second amendment, proposed by Stella Creasy, would decriminalise abortion completely until 24 weeks. This would mean that late-term abortions outside of the Abortion Act would not result in custodial sentences. It would also protect healthcare professionals who carry out abortions with the explicit consent of the pregnant person, as long as it takes place before the 24th week of pregnancy.
Organisations such as the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) have publicly supported Antoniazzi’s amendment, with their head of advocacy, Rachael Clarke, stating that “the uniting issue for all these groups is that women must urgently be removed from the criminal law on abortion.” Similarly, Louise McCudden from MSI has called for a simple reform to the law that would end the prosecution of women under outdated Victorian abortion laws.
Today’s vote has the potential to bring about the
