British anti-abortion activists take on MPs who support decriminalisation

Anti-abortion activists are running as independent candidates in the general election against prominent MPs seeking re-election who support decriminalization.

The seats of Labor members Diana Johnson and Stella Creasy and Conservative Caroline Nokes have all been targeted by anti-abortion campaigners. The three proposed or supported recent ones amendments to the Criminal Justice Bill which would have stopped the prosecution of anyone who terminates a pregnancy in England and Wales.

The mood was described by abortion provider British Pregnancy Advice Service (BPAS) as “the biggest on abortion rights in a generation”, but it never passed when the general election was called and parliament was dissolved.

Creasy is being challenged in Walthamstow by Ruth Rawlins of the Center for Bio-Ethical Reform UK (CBRUK), a group that also launched a #StopStella campaign in 2019 after the MP successfully led a vote for abortion rights in Northern Ireland. Creasy said at the time that she contacted police after being targeted by anti-abortion protesters in her constituency.

Creasy told the Observer she would want police presence at local hustings if Rawlins were to participate. “In a democracy, candidates should be able to run for office and for control without fear of harm. That principle applies to all of us, and I have made it clear to the organizers of the hustings that I would like to participate alongside those who hold anti-abortion views,” she said.

“It is sad but necessary, given CBRUK’s history of intimidating and threatening behavior, that the presence of police is required to participate in such a debate.”

Rawlins said all allegations of harassment were false and that campaigners were “simply sharing her extreme abortion position with (Creasy’s) voters.”

Hull North and Cottingham, where Johnson is Labour’s candidate, are also contested by Pauline Peachey, founder of CBRUK’s Post Abortion Support for Everyone (PASE) project.

Johnson said she would continue to pursue decriminalization if elected, to “take our laws out of the Victorian era and bring them into line with other countries, from Northern Ireland to Ireland, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and France” .

Abortions in England and Wales must be approved by two doctors and take place within the first 24 weeks of pregnancy. Otherwise, it is illegal to deliberately terminate a pregnancy, under the Offenses Against the Person Act 1861, which carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.

Data from BPAS Earlier this year it emerged that while only three women had been convicted of having an illegal abortion in the more than five decades between 1967 and 2022, six had been prosecuted in the 18 months to February.

“Victims of domestic violence, human trafficking and sexual exploitation, as well as girls under the age of 18, are subjected to degrading and dehumanizing interrogations and detention on suspicion of illegally terminating their own pregnancies,” Johnson said.

“Should I be re-elected, I look forward to working with colleagues, medical agencies and abortion providers to continue the work in this area.”

In Romsey and Southampton North, the former seat of Caroline Nokes, Fennie Yap is running as an independent, with a fundraising campaign comparing abortion to genocide.

Alex Davies-Jones, who is seeking re-election as a Labor MP, is being challenged in Pontypridd, Wales, by long-time Pro-Life Alliance member Joseph Biddulph. Other MPs seeking re-election whose seats are being targeted include Labour’s Zarah Sultana and Rosena Allin-Khan.

Some of the anti-abortion candidates are coordinated by the Vote Life campaign founded by Christian Hacking, public engagement officer at CBRUK and a prominent protester outside abortion clinics in London, who is also standing as an independent candidate in the new constituency of Eltham and Chislehurst. Hacking said it was “high time that this genocide became a voting issue.”

The Christian Peoples Alliance, a registered political party whose objectives include “upholding the sanctity of life from conception to natural death,” has also 22 candidates active in constituencies in England.

Dr. Jonathan Lord, co-chair of the British Society of Abortion Care Providers, said the candidacies were “unfortunately part of a trend”.

He said: “That said, given that the overwhelming majority of public support for abortion care, they will soon receive a resounding message from voters about what the public thinks of their extreme positions.”

Last month a 25 year old woman appeared in court accused in Gloucestershire of illegally terminating a pregnancy six years earlier as a teenager. Heidi Stewart, chief executive of the UK Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), said it was “for people like this young woman that we urgently need decriminalisation”.

She said BPAS would continue its decriminalization efforts after the election. “As police prosecutions and investigations into illegal abortion reach record levels, our hopes are not dashed; they are postponed. It is never in the public interest to investigate and prosecute women for illegal abortions.

“Come into the new parliament, we will pick up where we left off and move forward with the decriminalization of abortion for women as quickly as possible.”

The abortion law was passed to the Scottish Parliament in 2016. There have been no changes to the abortion law since then, but MSPs did last week a law passed creating safe access zones around facilities providing abortions in Scotland.

Abortion was decriminalized in Northern Ireland in 2019, although barriers to access remain.

Ikamara Larasi, co-leader of activist group Level Up’s Abortion is Healthcare campaign, said it was “disappointing” that the vote in parliament did not go ahead and that the group would continue to support calls for decriminalization.

“I am confident that with all the work that has gone into this, we will see this happen. The law is not the only thing needed in terms of reproductive justice, but it is a very important part of the puzzle,” she said.