British MPs on Tuesday abolished criminal prosecutions for women who resort to late termination of pregnancy, adopting an amendment tabled by a female MP after several cases that shocked public opinion in recent years.
The change, which will apply to England and Wales, was approved by a large majority in the House of Commons, with 379 votes in favour and 137 against.
It was supported by around 50 organisations, including the main doctors' union BMA, women's rights groups and abortion clinics.
Currently, women can be tried and imprisoned if they terminate their pregnancy after 24 weeks or without medical approval.
The story of Nicola Packer, a 45-year-old British woman who was exonerated in May after a harrowing trial, recently brought this issue to light.
The woman discovered she was pregnant in November 2020, during the Covid-19 pandemic, and was prescribed abortion medication to take at home, believing she was six weeks pregnant. However, she was actually about 26 weeks pregnant, well beyond the legal limit for an abortion.
After giving birth at home to a stillborn fetus in traumatic circumstances and undergoing emergency surgery at the hospital, Nicola Packer was reported to the police, who took her into custody and subsequently prosecuted.
Even today, "women are still being arrested in their hospital beds, taken to the police and subjected to criminal investigations when they are suspected of having terminated their pregnancies," Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, who initiated the amendment, told AFP before the vote.
Once the text is finally adopted by Parliament, no woman will be able to be prosecuted, regardless of how far along she is in her pregnancy.
Under a law dating back to 1861, abortion is a criminal offense in England and Wales, and can theoretically carry a prison sentence of up to life.
"Originally passed by an all-male parliament elected by men only, this Victorian law is increasingly being used against vulnerable women and girls," said Tonia Antoniazzi, defending her amendment in the House of Commons on Tuesday.
– six women tried in three years –
The 1967 Abortion Act introduced exceptions to legalize abortion under certain conditions: before 23 weeks and six days of pregnancy, and under the supervision of a health professional.
After this period, this procedure is only permitted if the mother's life is in danger, or if there is a significant risk that the child will be born with a serious disability.
The amendment adopted Tuesday does not change the legal time limit for an abortion, and anyone helping a woman to have an abortion outside the time limit or outside a medical framework would still be liable to prosecution.
Six women have been tried in England in the past three years for terminating or attempting to terminate their pregnancies outside the legal framework.
Tonia Antoniazzi told the BBC on Tuesday that police had investigated "more than 100 women suspected of illegal abortion in the past five years, including women who suffered natural miscarriages" or gave birth to stillborn babies.
Before the vote, the anti-abortion group Society for the Protection of Unborn Children called the proposal "the greatest threat to the unborn in decades."
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