Decriminalising abortion will fuel late-term DIY procedures, warns Miriam Cates

Conservative MP Miriam Cates has written an article in The Telegraph criticising an amendment to decriminalise abortion
Conservative MP Miriam Cates has written an article in The Telegraph criticising an amendment to decriminalise abortion - Paul Grover for the Telegraph

Decriminalising abortion will fuel late-term DIY procedures by pregnant women, a senior MP has warned.

In an article for The Telegraph, Miriam Cates, co-chairman of the New Conservatives group of MPs, said an amendment proposing to decriminalise abortion would “remove any consequence” for a pregnant woman who decided to terminate their baby after the current 24-week limit.

Because the proposed amendment does not change the requirements under the 1967 Act barring doctors from conducting abortions after 24 weeks, Ms Cates said it would result in a rise in the number of women trying to carry out DIY terminations on their post-term babies.

“Decriminalising abortion to term would not just put women in danger, it would mark a serious failure in our duty to protect the rights of the unborn child,” she said.

She warned that she felt so strongly about it that if the amendment passed, she “and many other MPs” would vote against the Criminal Justice Bill in its entirety.

Dame Diana Johnson led an amendment that would mean women would no longer be prosecuted if they ended their pregnancies beyond the 24-week limit
Dame Diana Johnson led an amendment that would mean women would no longer be prosecuted if they ended their pregnancies beyond the 24-week limit - Maria Unger/PA

Her comments mark the opening of what is expected to be a passionate debate over what could be the first major changes to abortion law in more than 30 years.

There are two amendments that have been tabled. One led by Diana Johnson, Labour chairman of the home affairs committee, would mean women would no longer be prosecuted if they ended their pregnancies beyond the 24-week legal time limit. It has so far gathered cross party support from more than 20 MPs.

Women can be jailed under the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act if they have an abortion outside set circumstances. Last year a mother of three was sent to prison for an illegal abortion, and about 100 women have faced police investigations since 2019.

Under the amendment, the 1861 law would no longer apply to women ending their own pregnancies, although they would still have to abide by the requirements of the 1967 abortion act and the 24-week limit would remain intact.

Cut limit to 22 weeks

It would bring England and Wales into line with Northern Ireland, where abortions were decriminalised in 2019. It is backed by the Royal Colleges of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, of GPs and of Midwives and the British Medical Association. A YouGov poll showed 55 per cent of MPs also supported the change.

A second, backed by Ms Cates, would cut the time limit from 24 to 22 weeks, on the basis that the survival rate for extremely premature babies born at 23 weeks has doubled from two in 10 to four in 10. Twenty two weeks is now recognised by the British Association of Perinatal Medicine as the point of viability outside the womb.

Ms Cates blamed the rise in late-term terminations and prosecutions on changes during the Covid pandemic which allowed clinicians to issue abortion pills over the phone, by-passing the usual requirements for face-to-face consultations. These changes have since been made permanent.

She said predictions that these changes would lead to a rise in “dangerous” late-term abortions had proved “well founded” and called for a return to face-to-face consultations.

‘Go after the abortion providers’

“Given that it will remain illegal for clinicians to assist with terminations after the current 24-week legal limit, removing any consequences for women who abort their babies after this time will inevitably result in a rise in dangerous, late-term, DIY and coercive terminations,” Ms Cates said.

However, Ms Johnson said: “This amendment is only taking women out of the criminal justice system. If you look at somewhere like Texas, which has very restrictive laws, they don’t criminalise women. They go after the abortion providers. We are out of step even with those countries that have stricter abortion laws.”

The debate is between women's human rights and those of the unborn child
The debate is essentially between women's human rights and those of the unborn child - Jacob Wackerhausen/iStockphoto

She suggested that women who took abortion pills to have late miscarriages were women in the most vulnerable and difficult circumstances.

“It may be domestic abuse, coercive control. They may have been trafficked. The question is: do you believe they should be brought before the criminal law or should they be offered help and support,” she said.

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Miriam Cates

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