Tell your MP that you don't believe women should be sent to prison for having an abortion
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Dear ,
No woman should be sent to prison for having an abortion.
The Criminal Justice Bill is due to come back to Parliament on the 15th May 2024. Within it are amendments regarding abortion. We are asking you to write to you MP to ask them, when the time comes to vote on amendments, to support whichever amendment is selected by the Speaker of the House, which decriminalises abortion in England and Wales.
Please write to your MPs and ask them to:
a) vote for amendments NC1 or NC40 to the Criminal Justice Bill. These amendments seek to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales. Both amendments would ensure that women are not subjected to a prison sentence should they have an abortion outside the narrow parameters of the law.
b) oppose amendment NC15 which seeks to reduce the time limit.
Write to your MP ([link removed])
The time has come for Britain to join our counterparts across the world and decriminalise abortion. Will you join us in fighting for our reproductive rights?
Currently in the UK, one in three women has an abortion by the time she is 45. 90% of the population is pro-choice. Since the introduction of the Abortion Act 1967 we have seen massive improvements in reproductive healthcare and gender equality. However, our abortion laws are outdated and not reflective of the realities of modern-day abortion care and gender equality. You can read this brilliant article by Louise McCudden – UK Head of External Affairs at MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes International) to read more ([link removed]) about why now the right time is to decriminalise.
But isn’t abortion legal in Britain?
It’s true that the Abortion Act 1967 makes abortion legal – but only as long as specific criteria are met. For example, two doctors must sign off every procedure and confirm that the woman’s reasons for seeking abortion meet the legal criteria. The Abortion Act 1967 did not decriminalise abortion; it can still be criminalised under the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861 and the Infant Life Preservation Act of 1929. These laws are outdated. You can read more about abortion law across the UK from Professor Sally Sheldon here ([link removed]) .
The law makes it unnecessarily difficult and stigmatising for women seeking abortion care and it creates unnecessary bureaucracy within the healthcare system. Doctors should be able to spend their time treating patients, not signing forms. It is not right that women in 2024 are being governed be a law passed in 1861, before women were given the right to vote in 1928.
Will you write to your MP today? ([link removed])
Decriminalising abortion does not mean de-regulating abortion care
Abortion care is one of the most regulated forms of healthcare available, and this will not change with decriminalisation. It simply means abortion can be regulated as healthcare, in line with clinical recommendations, not criminalised under Victorian laws.
We know that criminalising abortion does not put an end to abortions; it simply means vulnerable women seek unsafe abortions elsewhere. There is no public benefit in prosecuting these women.
Rising investigations and prosecutions
Even places with deeply regressive abortion laws, like Texas, tend not to prosecute the women themselves. Yet that is exactly what has been happening here in Britain.
In the last 20 months, 6 women were unnecessarily subjected to lengthy and stressful police investigations ([link removed].) due to unexplained pregnancy loss. This is simply not a compassionate response to so many women who have found themselves in a terrible position.
There are two amendments to the Bill which have been laid by Diana Johnson MP (NC1) and Stella Creasy MP (NC15)
Both amendments decriminalise abortion and will make it easier and safer for women to access abortion care without stigma and without the threat of being sent to prison.
Both put women at the centre of their decisions about their own reproductive healthcare.
Whichever amendment is selected by the Speaker when the Criminal Justice Bill returns to the House of Commons, we welcome the fact that multiple MPs are keen to reform abortion law in a positive way.
However, there is still a real threat to roll back hard fought for rights on abortion access and care.
In this same Bill, there are further amendments which seek to reduce abortion rights.
Caroline Ansell MP has tabled an amendment which if passed would reduce the upper limit for abortion in most cases from 24 to 22 weeks (NC15), which would deny around 1,500 women a year access to abortion.
The amendment comes from MPs with a long history of opposing reproductive rights and are backed by well-funded anti-abortion groups.
Asking MPs to vote for NC1 and NC40 and against NC15 is the only way we can secure our right to decisions about our sexual, reproductive health. You can read more about the harmful impact of reducing the term limits here (Position-paper-why-there-is-no-case-for-reducing-the-abortion-time-limit-.pdf%20(msichoices.org.uk)) .
Will you write to your MP to decriminalise abortion? ([link removed])
We need your support to encourage Parliament to make sure no more women are sent to prison. We have all been disturbed by the rollback of Roe vs Wade in the USA and we must act now to ensure that the UK does not go down this same path.
Will you work with us and others to ensure that we do not take these steps backwards?
Writing to your MP only takes 30 seconds. Fill in your name and postcode and we will produce a letter which explains exactly why your MP needs to lend their support.
Please write to your MP now and ask them to support the decriminalisation of abortion.
In solidarity,
Jemima Olchawski,
Chief Executive, The Fawcett Society
Write to your MP today! ([link removed])
More information about the decriminalisation amendments
Diana Johnson MP’s Amendment NC1
Diana Johnson MPs amendment would remove women from the criminal law so that nobody faces investigation, prosecution, or jail for ending their own pregnancy. It does not remove abortion itself from criminal law or change any aspect of how abortion is regulated, provided, or accessed. Women will be removed from the law; every other aspect of the law will stay the same.
This amendment, which is backed by abortion providers and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, will bring us a step closer to the progressive abortion laws we see in countries such as Canada, Australia, the Republic of Ireland and New Zealand. Even here in the UK, abortion is now decriminalised in Northern Ireland following a Westminster vote in 2019. Why should women in England and Wales should be threatened with life in prison for making reproductive choices which, in Northern Ireland, would not even be a crime?
You can read more about the amendment here: Why we back Diana Johnson’s amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill (msichoices.org.uk) ([link removed].)
Stella Creasy MP’s Amendment NC40
Stella Creasy MP’s amendment intends to ensure that abortion is completely decriminalised, for women, doctors, and abortion providers, until 24 weeks’ gestation. It also seeks to ensure that the small number of women who do end pregnancies outside the legal limit do not face custodial sentences. If this amendment passes, women could continue to face investigation if they are suspected of ending their own pregnancies over 24 weeks, however prosecutions would need the personal support of Director of Public Prosecutions, who will have to deem a prosecution to be in public’s best interest, meaning women are far less likely to end up in court.
This amendment also intends to present a clear lock on future guidance and regulations for the long term, to ensure that whatever regulations, guidance or legislation are produced, none can be used to reduce access to abortion healthcare in England and Wales.
You can read more about the amendment here:: [link removed]
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