Under a law passed in 1861, any woman who ends her pregnancy without legal authorisation from two doctors can be sent to prison for life. This includes women in desperate situations who resort to buying pills online.
On Monday 13th March, MPs voted on the first stage of the Diana Johnson MP’s Reproductive Health (Access to Terminations) Bill, which proposed the decriminalisation of abortion up to 24 weeks in England and Wales. We are delighted to say that the bill was passed by 172 votes to 142.
Now we must keep campaigning to make it a reality. Please tell your MP to continue to support the campaign, to protect women who are currently at risk of criminal prosecution.
As abortion is a devolved issue, if you are resident in either Scotland or Northern Ireland you can use the tool to email your MSP or MLA asking that they also support decriminalisation.