UK Edition
More than half of the public oppose MPs’ plans to decriminalise abortion ahead of a major vote that could liberalise the law for the first time in a generation.
Exclusive polling shows 55 per cent of adults agree that it should remain illegal for a woman to abort a healthy baby after the current 24-week time limit. Only 16 per cent, fewer than one in six, agreed with the plans while 29 per cent said they preferred not to say or did not know.
More women than men believed it should remain a criminal offence, by a ratio of 57 per cent to 54 per cent. Seven in 10 adults (71 per cent) also agreed a year-long jail sentence for a woman last year who aborted her baby at between 32 and 34 weeks was “about right or too short”. Only 20 per cent thought it too long.
The data, based on polling of 2011 adults, marks the start of what is expected to be a passionate debate over what could be the first major changes to abortion law in more than 30 years.
Two amendments – one liberalising the abortion law and one tightening it – have been tabled to the Criminal Justice Bill which is due to return to the Commons after the Easter recess. If they are allowed to proceed by Sir Lindsay Hoyle, the Speaker, all parties have said their MPs will be allowed a free vote as an issue of conscience.
One amendment, laid by Diana Johnson, Labour chair of the home affairs committee, would mean women would no longer be prosecuted if they ended their pregnancies beyond the 24-week legal time limit. It has so far gathered cross-party support from 35 MPs.
Women can be jailed under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act if they have an abortion outside set circumstances. As well as the mother of three jailed last year for an illegal abortion, about 100 women have faced police investigations since 2019.
Under the amendment, the 1861 law would no longer apply to women ending their pregnancies, although they would still have to abide by the requirements of the 1967 Abortion Act and the 24-week limit would remain intact. Doctors and nurses would still face prosecution if they assisted an abortion after 24 weeks.
It would bring England and Wales into line with Northern Ireland, where abortions were decriminalised in 2019. It is backed by the Royal Colleges of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, of GPs and of Midwives and the British Medical Association.
A YouGov poll showed 55 per cent of MPs also supported the change although the new polling by Whitestone Insight suggests MPs may be out of step with public opinion. It shows that more people are against than for decriminalisation across all age and social class groups.
The second amendment, put forward by Caroline Ansell, the Tory MP, and backed by 36 MPs, would cut the time limit from 24 to 22 weeks, on the basis that the survival rate for extremely premature babies born at 23 weeks has doubled from two in 10 to four in 10.
Twenty two weeks is now recognised by the British Association of Perinatal Medicine as the point of viability outside the womb. A poll by ComRes (now Savanta) found that 60 per cent of the public and 70 per cent of women support a reduction in the time limit to 20 weeks or below.
Critics of the decriminalisation proposal claim it would fuel late-term DIY procedures.
Catherine Robinson, a spokeswoman for Right to Life UK, said: “It would likely lead to a tragic increase in the number of babies’ lives being ended through late-term abortions performed at home, as well as the lives of many more women being endangered.
“This extreme and radical abortion law has no place in the UK. This polling clearly shows that the public do not support this change to the law. We are calling on MPs to reject Johnson’s amendment”.
Miriam Cates, co-chair of the New Conservatives group of MPs, who has backed a reduction to 22 weeks, said decriminalisation would “remove any consequence” for a pregnant woman who decided to terminate their baby after the current 24-week limit.
“Of course women who face unwanted late-term pregnancies should be offered help and support, but in a civilised and compassionate society we must not change the law to remove all rights and value from an unborn baby just a few weeks or days before birth,” said Ms Cates.
Ms Johnson has disputed the criticism, saying there is no evidence of a rise in late-term abortions since decriminalisation in countries including Northern Ireland, New Zealand, Australia or Canada.
“This amendment is only taking women out of the criminal justice system. If you look at somewhere like Texas which has very restrictive laws, they don’t criminalise women. They go after the abortion providers. We are out of step even with those countries that have stricter abortion laws,” she said.
Ms Johnson suggested that women who took abortion pills to have late miscarriages were women in the most vulnerable and difficult circumstances.
“It may be domestic abuse, coercive control. They may have been trafficked. The question is: do you believe they should be brought before the criminal law or should they be offered help and support,” she said.