British House of Commons Approves Radical Measure for Abortions Up to Birth

Pro-life campaigners have made it clear that they will be fighting an extreme abortion up to birth amendment as it progresses to the House of Lords, after the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill was hijacked to rush through a seismic and unpopular change to abortion law after just two hours’ debate.

The extreme abortion amendment (NC1) was passed by MPs by a vote of 379 to 137.

This is the first time this extreme abortion amendment has been debated in the House of Commons, and there has been no consultation with the public on this seismic law change.

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The amendment, tabled by Tonia Antoniazzi, would change the law so it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason, including sex-selective purposes, and at any point up to and during birth, likely leading to a significant increase in the number of women performing dangerous late-term abortions at home.

This would likely lead to the lives of many more women being endangered because of the risks involved with ‘DIY’ late-term abortions and also tragically lead to an increased number of viable babies’ lives being ended well beyond the 24-week abortion time limit and beyond the point at which they would be able to survive outside the womb.

There has been a large backlash after Tonia Antoniazzi said in an interview last week that she was comfortable with women being able to abort a viable baby at 37 weeks.

These changes are not backed by the general public nor by women in particular. Polling shows that 89% of the general population and 91% of women agree that gender-selective abortion should be explicitly banned by the law – and only 1% of women support introducing abortion up to birth.

Polling published this week shows widespread public support for the law change that had been proposed by Dr Caroline Johnson’s (NC106) amendment, with two-thirds of women supporting the reinstatement of in-person appointments and only 4% in favour of the status quo.

Ahead of the vote, over 1,000 medical professionals called on MPs to oppose the two abortion up to birth amendments that have been tabled to the Government’s Crime and Policing Bill and to instead reinstate in-person consultations with a medical professional prior to an abortion taking place at home, as proposed by Dr Caroline Johnson’s amendment (NC106).

Unfortunately, an amendment tabled by Dr Caroline Johnson that would have reinstated in-person consultations to help protect women and babies from dangerous late-term home abortions did not pass.

Further background information on the amendment and other amendments considered today is available in the notes section at the end of the press release.

Lord Alton of Liverpool said:

“This hasty change will have profound implications for the way that longstanding law in this country will operate. We know that there are potential real risks for the safety of women in particular who will be encouraged towards DIY abortions. I expect that colleagues in the House of Lords will wish to scrutinise its provisions very closely and to amend it as necessary to make it safe.“

Right To Life UK spokesperson, Catherine Robinson, said:

“Pro-abortion MPs have hijacked a government Bill to rush through this radical and seismic change to our abortion laws after just two hours’ debate.”

“This is the first time this extreme abortion amendment has been debated in the House of Commons, and there has been no consultation with the public on this seismic law change.”

“We will be fighting this amendment at every stage in the Lords.”

“Tonia Antoniazzi’s amendment would change the law so it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason, and at any point up to and during birth, likely leading to a significant increase in the number of women performing dangerous late-term abortions at home.”

“This law change would likely lead to the lives of many more women being endangered because of the risks involved with self-administered late-term abortions and also tragically lead to an increased number of viable babies’ lives being ended well beyond the 24-week abortion time limit and beyond the point at which they would be able to survive outside the womb.”

“This change to the law is not backed by the general public nor by women in particular. Polling shows that 89% of the general population and 91% of women agree that gender-selective abortion should be explicitly banned by the law, and only 1% of women support introducing abortion up to birth.”

“The abortion lobby is pushing to decriminalise abortion to cover up the disastrous effects of its irresponsible pills by post scheme, which endangers women by removing the requirement for in-person consultations to reliably verify a woman’s gestational age and assess any health risks or the risk of coercion before abortion pills may be prescribed.”

“The solution is clear. We urgently need to reinstate in-person appointments. This simple safeguard would prevent women’s lives from being put at risk from self-administered late-term abortions, a danger that would be exacerbated if abortion were ‘decriminalised’ right up to birth.”

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