An ‘unprecedented’ rise in abortion prosecutions is leading to calls for legal change from medical leaders

Medical leaders are calling for reform of abortion laws in England and Wales, following an “unprecedented” increase in the number of women and girls prosecuted for terminating their own pregnancies.

More than 30 groups – including the British Medical Association, the Faculty of Public Health, the British Society of Abortion Care Providers and the Royal Colleges of General Practitioners, Nurses, Psychiatrists, Midwives and Anesthetists – have issued a joint statement warning that the current legislation “trauma and cruelty” and demanding “immediate action” to protect reproductive rights.

The intervention, led by the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (RCOG), comes after cases in which women were prosecuted for illegal abortions under a Victorian-era law that is still in force.

Six women have appeared in court under the Personal Offenses Act in the past two years. There had previously been only a handful of known convictions since the law was introduced in 1861. It is a criminal offense to have an abortion after 24 weeks or without the consent of two doctors, punishable by a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The groups, which represent about 800,000 health care professionals, are calling for an end to the prosecution and say abortion should be a health care issue, not a criminal justice issue.

Backed by 20 legal experts and charities including Women’s Aid and Liberty, they suggest the change could be introduced as an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill, which will be brought before Parliament in the spring. They are also calling for a new bill to modernize abortion law, “so that it can be managed through the same robust regulatory and quality monitoring processes as all other health care.”

“Women and girls are facing traumatic and lengthy criminal investigations following pregnancy loss and abortion in numbers never seen before,” they said. “We urgently call on Parliament to ensure that women in England and Wales have the same protection as those in Northern Ireland, by removing them from the threat of prosecution in relation to their own pregnancy.”

The call will put pressure on MPs amid rollbacks on access to abortion in other countries such as the US and increase activity by anti-abortion campaigners in Britain. In the last parliament there were several attempts to limit access, including an amendment to reduce the legal limit from 24 weeks to 22 weeks. Britain’s reform leader Nigel Farage has indicated he wants MPs to look at lowering the limit.

Labor MPs including Jess Phillips and Diana Johnson – both now Home Secretaries – have been vocal in their support for modernizing abortion laws. Before the election, Johnson tabled an amendment to decriminalize it, backed by cross-party MPs including Phillips. However, some Labor figures urged caution over the bill, fearing it would embolden anti-abortion activists and lead to a rollback of telemedicine, the practice of providing clinical services remotely.

Dr. Ranee Thakar, chair of the RCOG, said: “The vast majority of the public agrees that it is not in the public interest to prosecute women for terminating their own pregnancies.

“No woman should be forced to continue a pregnancy against her will. No woman should face the threat of imprisonment, or the strain of investigation or prosecution for terminating a pregnancy, or for experiencing unexpected or unexplained pregnancy loss.”

Dr. Andrew Green, chairman of the British Medical Association’s ethics committee, said: “The criminalization of abortion care belongs in a different era. It can prevent women from seeking safe health care when they need it, leading to unnecessary illness and suffering.”

Professor Kamila Hawthorne, President of the Royal College of GPs, said: “The RCGP supports the decriminalization of abortion and believes a change in the law is long overdue. It makes no sense that women can be prosecuted because of outdated laws that were created before women were even allowed to vote.”

Campaigners say the proposed changes will not lead to abortion deregulation. But the approach would prevent women from being prosecuted for terminating their own pregnancies – bringing the law in line with countries such as Northern Ireland, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand and France, where it has been decriminalized.

Although abortion is accessible and prosecutions are uncommon, in England and Wales it is still a criminal offense to procure an abortion under the 1861 Act. There are exceptions under the 1967 Abortion Act, which allows abortion if two doctors agree that continuing the pregnancy would be risky for the woman’s physical or mental health. But the old law was never repealed.

The Observer The previously revealed police have launched dozens of investigations over the past decade into suspected violations of the law, including cases in which women bought abortion pills online and drank herbal remedies without medical supervision.

In one case in 2021, a 15-year-old girl with an unexplained early stillbirth was subjected to a year-long investigation that examined her texts and search history, according to data released under freedom of information laws. The case was dismissed after a coroner concluded that natural causes had terminated the pregnancy.

In another case, a woman in Norfolk was hospitalized after swallowing eight misoprostol tablets – used along with mifepristone to induce abortion – that had not been obtained through a doctor. She was believed to be 26 weeks pregnant, two weeks past the legal limit.

In the decade to April 2022, police in England and Wales recorded at least 67 cases of illegal abortion, FoI data shows. In most cases, the women were not charged because it was not considered in the public interest. But in some recent cases, women have been prosecuted.

In December, Sophie Harvey, 25, was given a community order after admitting conspiring with her partner to buy abortion pills to end her pregnancy when she was 19. The case lasted six years.

In 2023, Carla Foster, 44, was jailed after admitting ending her pregnancy outside the time limit during a coronavirus lockdown. Her 28-month sentence was later reduced to 14 months and suspended, with judges saying her case called for “compassion, not punishment”. In January 2024, Bethany Cox, 22, was found not guilty of an illegal abortion at home after a three-year investigation. Prosecutors dropped the case due to “evidence issues.”

The reason for the apparent increase in prosecutions is not clear. But Prof Sally Sheldon, an expert on abortion law at the University of Bristol, said greater awareness of medical abortions following the launch of telemedicine services has likely led to increased vigilance among healthcare professionals. Reporting on illegal abortion cases had also likely led to greater awareness of the law, she said. “Every time we have one of these cases there is a huge amount of publicity, so that can fuel it,” she said.

Campaigners say the impact of investigations could be ‘profound’. In several cases, children were removed from their families and contact was banned or severely restricted. It is common for mobile phones and computers to be confiscated.

“Even if no charges are brought, the impact of the investigation is causing life-changing harm to women and their families,” said Dr Jonathan Lord, an NHS gynecologist and co-chair of the RCOG abortion taskforce. “Many cases are not prosecuted, but it can take years before the case is dismissed.”

Shila Keshvari, a criminal defense attorney with expertise in abortion law, said “young teenagers” and victims of abuse were among those investigated for alleged illegal terminations. “Many have gone to hospital for a stillbirth and before they know it, the police have turned up to arrest them. The impact is long-term trauma on mental health,” she said.

The government has not commented on the calls for new legislation. A spokesperson said abortion is an “extremely sensitive issue” with “strong positions on all sides of the debate”. “That is why, according to long-standing convention, any change in the law would be a matter of conscience for parliamentarians and not for the government.” It said prosecution was a matter for the CPS.

A spokesperson for the CPS said that although cases were rare, they were often ‘complex and traumatic’ and that prosecutors had carefully considered each case. It said prosecution figures reflected cases referred to the country and backlogs in the courts meant some cases charged before the pandemic had only recently been dealt with.

The National Police Chiefs’ Council said investigations were only initiated when there was “credible information indicating criminal activity… often as a result of concerns raised by medical professionals”, and that they were “always handled… with sensitivity and compassion”.

Labor MP Stella Creasy, an outspoken campaigner for reproductive rights, said: “We cannot ignore the fact that hundreds of women are still being examined in often the most grueling circumstances, after having suffered a late miscarriage or not even knowing they were were pregnant. not at all. Instead of a confidential counselor, they are visited by a police officer.”

Dr. Janet Barter, chair of the Faculty of Sexual and Reproductive Health, said: “A change in legislation is long overdue.”