MPs urged to reject abortion amendments

Pro-life campaigners are calling on MPs to vote against two proposed amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill that may effectively allow abortion as much as birth. 

Amendment NC20, tabled by Stella Creasy, would legalise abortion as much as birth for any reason, including sex-selective abortion. 

The amendment, if passed, would remove current safeguards like two-doctor approval and legal penalties for concealing the body of a dead baby. 

Amendment NC1 tabled by Tonia Antoniazzi would make it legal for girls to self-administer abortions as much as and through birth.

Right to Life UK said it was likely that this amendment, if passed, would result in “a major increase within the number of girls performing dangerous late-term abortions at home”.

MPs are as an alternative being urged to back NC106 tabled by Dr Caroline Johnson, which might reinstate in-person medical consultations before abortion pills may very well be sent to women for an at-home abortion.

Dr Johnson’s amendment has the support of over 40 cross-party MPs, including former leader of the Conservative Party Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice, and former Liberal Democrat leader Tim Farron. 

Right to Life UK cited recent abuses of the pills-by-post service, including Stuart Worby who was jailed for secretly administering abortion pills to his partner who lost the newborn in consequence, and Carla Foster who took abortion pills at 32 to 34 weeks after lying about her gestation. 

Spokesperson for Right To Life UK, Catherine Robinson, said: “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 confirm a lady’s gestational age and assess any health risks or the danger of coercion before abortion pills could also be prescribed.”