Great Britain’s laws need urgent reform to end the criminalisation of abortion

This June, a woman was sentenced to 28 months in jail for ending her own pregnancy using medication during the UK’s first lockdown in 2020.1In the UK, where 90% of the population are pro-choice,2 the use of an archaic Victorian era law—the Offences Against the Person Act 1861—to prosecute a vulnerable woman in 2023 left many asking how this happened and calling for urgent reform to our abortion laws.The Offences Against the Person Act3 was passed in a time that afforded women little to no legal rights or autonomy and is the oldest part of our healthcare legislation. In my view, and in those of many of my colleagues across the House of Commons, it is totally unfit for purpose.I’ve raised this in parliament numerous times. Most recently in 2018 when I introduced a private member’s bill to decriminalise abortion up to 24 weeks. The bill was supported by 208…
Read Original Article: Great Britain’s laws need urgent reform to end the criminalisation of abortion »