The lives of the most vulnerable – unborn babies in the womb and those at the end of life – are currently under grave threat from two bills going through Parliament. Both bills have their final Parliamentary votes next week.
The Assisted Dying or Terminally Ill Adults (End of Life) Bill, seeking to allow doctors to help terminally ill patients to commit suicide, is in the final report stage in the House of Commons. The third and final vote is expected on June 20th but may be as early as Friday June 13th, once the final tabled amendments have been debated and voted on by MPs. If voted through, it will go to the House of Lords before getting Royal Assent. Assisted suicide would be implemented across our healthcare system within the next four years.
At the other end of life, there is a crafty attempt to bring about abortion up to birth through two tabled amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill seeking to decriminalise abortion, preventing prosecution of women who terminate their pregnancies themselves at any stage of gestation. These amendments are due to be debated and voted on in Parliament on Tuesday June 17th and Wednesday June 18th, before the third and final vote on the whole bill.
Both the Assisted Dying Bill and the extreme abortion amendments violate fundamental principles of medical ethics (to first do no harm and to seek to heal, not destroy life), put vulnerable lives in danger and threaten the doctor-patient relationship.
Current Abortion Law in England and Wales
Abortion was made illegal by the Offences against the Persons Act 1861 (sections 58 and 59), and laws were further strengthened by the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929. Under these laws, women and abortionists faced criminal charges if they carried out an abortion or killed an unborn baby. Despite this, there were only three convictions of women for ending their own pregnancy over the 150 years leading up to 2022.
In the 20th century, campaigners argued that outlawing abortion was causing significant numbers of desperate women to undergo dangerous back-street abortions, often resulting in their serious injury or death through sepsis or haemorrhage. Lobbying eventually brought about the Abortion Act 1967, allowing the medically supervised termination of pregnancies up to 28 weeks (or above if the mother’s life was at risk or a very serious foetal abnormality was present). The agreement of two doctors was required. Outside of these stringent conditions, it is still a criminal offence for anyone else (including the mother) to induce an abortion at any stage of pregnancy.
In 1990, the legal limit for abortion was reduced from 28 to 24 weeks, as improvements in neonatal intensive care allowed babies of 23-24 weeks to survive outside the womb. Further improvements in the viability of even younger infants have led to calls to reduce the abortion limit further to 22 weeks, as premature babies born at this gestational age are being successfully treated while similar-aged, viable foetuses are being terminated. Thus far, various attempts to bring this into law have failed, including in 2024 through an amendment to the Criminal Justice Bill.
The 24 weeks limit in England and Wales is already much higher than in Europe (average 12 weeks) or Northern Ireland (12 weeks). Opinion polls indicate that the majority of the public, particularly women, would like the current 24-week limit in England and Wales to be reduced.
Amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill (2025)
The Crime and Policing Bill is currently at the report stage in the House of Commons, having passed the second vote and completed the committee stage. Ahead of the report stage debates in Parliament on June 17th and 18th, two amendments seeking to decriminalise abortion have been tabled.
The first amendment (NC 1) was put forward by Tonia Antoniazzi MP (Lab), seeking to decriminalise women who terminate their own pregnancy for any reason and at any point up to birth. This amendment is backed by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS), the Royal College of Obstetrics and Gynaecology and 130 cross-party MPs.
Stella Creasy MP (Lab) has tabled a more extreme amendment (NC 20), supported by 94 cross-party MPs, which would not only decriminalise late-term abortions but would repeal the Infant Life Preservation Act and parts of the Offences against the Person Act. Removing vital protections that allow the prosecution of abusers who harm unborn babies and that criminalise sex-selective abortions.
NC20 would also amend the Abortion Act to create a ‘human rights framework’ and make abortion a human right. NC20 includes clauses to lock in the 24-week legal limit, by preventing change by future secondary legislation. Interestingly, this amendment is not supported by the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS) or other abortion providers, who argue that it is not the right way to bring about a “generational change” to abortion law.
Both amendments would be a huge step backward for the protection of both mother and unborn baby, and a gross violation of medical ethics. Enabling women with healthy, viable pregnancies over 24 weeks (legally unable to access a medically supervised abortion) to abort their own baby at home without fear of criminal prosecution effectively brings about the return of back street abortions, but this time in women’s homes, and with no medical supervision.
Easy access to ‘abortion pills by post‘ was introduced in March 2020 during the Covid lockdown. This temporary arrangement was made permanent in August 2022, allowing women to continue to access pills to induce a medical abortion (up to 10 weeks) through a (remote) teleconsultation with a doctor. The pills are sent to the woman to take at home. As no in-person consultation is required, or proof of gestational age, it enables women to procure the pills under false pretences and use them to bring about a dangerous abortion very late in pregnancy, effectively making the legal limit for abortion redundant.
The medical and psychological consequences of a woman terminating a late-term pregnancy, without medical support and using drugs only licensed for use up to 10 weeks gestation, are likely to be catastrophic. Life-threatening haemorrhage, sepsis, or delivering a live but compromised baby, are all serious risks
If these grotesque amendments are passed, an ethical Rubicon will be crossed, effectively allowing abortion up to birth: state-sanctioned killing of healthy, viable babies. In a cultural climate where public opinion is moving in favour of lowering, not increasing, abortion limits, this is a sinister attempt to circumvent the legal limit to abortion by taking it out of the hands of doctors and putting it into the hands of the pregnant mother.
Whether pro-life or pro-choice, I hope both sides would agree that allowing a fully viable, healthy baby to be killed in utero is abhorrent, and is morally unacceptable in a civilised society. In addition, once the decriminalisation of abortion is established, there will inevitably be a push to allow medical abortions up to birth.
Calls to Action on Abortion up to Birth and Assisted Suicide
If you oppose these changes, now is the time to contact your MP to urge him or her to vote against them next week.
The campaign group Right to Life has a tool to petition your local MP on the Assisted Dying Bill and another to email your MP about the Abortion up to Birth amendments.
The campaign groups Together and Christian Concern have organised rallies outside Parliament during the Assisted Dying Bill Parliamentary debates on June 13th and June 20th which people are encouraged to attend. This is a once in a lifetime opportunity to protect and preserve life – if these laws are passed there may be no going back.
Dr Elizabeth Evans is CEO of the UK Medical Freedom Alliance.
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