UK Lawmakers Make ‘Unutterably Grim’ Move to Decriminalize Abortion
The British House of Lords voted down two amendments that aimed to limit a sweeping abortion measure on Wednesday. This vote advanced the clause that would remove criminal penalties for women who abort their children at any stage.
The abortion clause, part of the Crime and Policing Bill, states “For the purposes of the law related to abortion, no offence is committed by a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy.” The bill also includes a provision for the “pardon and expungement of records” for women previously convicted for terminating their children. This legislation follows Northern Ireland’s decriminalization of abortion in 2019.
The U.K.’s abortion laws have historically been more restrictive than those in the United States, where abortion access was permitted nationwide under Roe v. Wade for nearly five decades before it was overturned by the Dobbs decision in 2022. In Britain, abortion was prohibited under the Offences Against the Person Act of 1861. Parliament then passed the Abortion Act of 1967, which legalized abortion in England, Wales, and Scotland when approved by two doctors who “are of the opinion, formed in good faith, that the abortion is justified.”
The Act permitted abortions before 24 weeks if continuing the pregnancy would involve a “risk… of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or any existing children of her family.” After 24 weeks, abortion was allowed in limited cases, such as when it was “necessary to prevent grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman,” or when there was a “substantial risk” the child would be “seriously handicapped.”
During the COVID pandemic in 2020, temporary measures were introduced to allow women to take abortion pills, mifepristone and misoprostol, at home in England and Wales; this became permanent in March 2022 with an amendment to the Health and Care Act.
Abortion rates in the United Kingdom continue to rise year over year. Analysis from Kevin Duffy of Percuity found that “across all four nations [in the U.K.], across all abortion providers, … abortion continues to increase,” and estimated that “one-in-three of all viable pregnancies will be ended by elective abortion.”
This trend is reflected in U.K. government data, which reported “an age-standardised abortion rate of 18.6 per 1,000 resident women aged 15 to 44 [in 2021]” and noted, “This is the highest rate recorded, exceeding the previous peak in 2020.”
In January 2026, the U.K. published new abortion statistics from 2023. The data showed that “abortions increased by 11% in 2023 compared with the previous year. The age-standardised abortion rate for women was 23.0 abortions per 1,000 residents, the highest rate since the Abortion Act was introduced in 1967.”
Kaye Wellings, a professor at the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine, argued in favor of decriminalizing abortion in April 2024. She said, “The current law on abortion in Britain is outdated and no longer serves any useful purpose. It increases the stress of an unintended pregnancy and sets up hurdles along the abortion pathway causing delay. The earlier in pregnancy abortion takes place, the safer it is.”
“It is unutterably grim that the House of Lords has voted to permit a woman to take the life of her baby right up until birth….They have dehumanised the unborn to a shocking new degree. And they have abandoned women,” said Simon Calvert, who opposes the measure.
Calvert is the Deputy Director of The Christian Institute, which believes “[A]ll human life is created in God’s image and so is intrinsically valuable from conception … [W]e therefore seek to defend the sanctity of life.”
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