MPs will tonight vote on two “extreme amendments” to abortion law to permit the killing of unborn babies up to birth with impunity.
Campaigners are calling on MPs to reject two amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill tabled by two Labour MPs.
They are asking MPs to instead support Dr Caroline Johnson’s amendment to scrap the abortion “pills by post” scheme, which was introduced as an emergency measure during the first Covid-19 lockdown of 2020, and later retained by Parliament.
Catherine Robinson of Right to Life said: “These are both extreme and inhumane changes to the law that this polling shows are not supported by women.”
“Stella Creasy’s amendment would result in the time limit being scrapped and abortion will be available on demand, for any reason, including sex-selective purposes, up to birth.”
“Tonio Antoniazzi’s amendment would change the law so it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason, and at any point up to and during birth, likely leading to a significant increase in the number of women performing dangerous late-term abortions at home.”
“The abortion lobby is pushing to decriminalise abortion to cover up the disastrous effects of its irresponsible pills by post scheme, which endangers women by removing the requirement for in-person consultations to reliably verify a woman’s gestational age and assess any health risks or the risk of coercion before abortion pills may be prescribed.”
She added: “The solution is clear. We urgently need to reinstate in-person appointments. This simple safeguard would prevent women’s lives from being put at risk from self-administered late-term abortions, a danger that would be exacerbated if abortion were ‘decriminalised’ right up to birth.”
The <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><a href="https://bills.parliament.uk/bills/3511/stages/18470/amendments/10013618">NC20 amendment</a> </mark>tabled by Ms Creasy, the MP for Walthamstow, would render the 24-week time limit set out in section 1(1)(a) of the Abortion Act 1967 obsolete, permitting abortion providers to perform abortions on demand, for any reason, including sex-selective purposes, at any stage, up to birth.
The effect of the amendment <a href="https://righttolife-org-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/2-680nXQ4FE2RCJ0uSng5wJOcRWvX5LeIV0LJuX6lmrs6rxV6lwGnH8JPGDFnclm6RbobGhRWB-JPNgy07I5FWdO-4R-6lyja4E5jwNwv9VeGfU5thjA6VppKhaClXh4h4EQ7UxQZD8crEpXD4hvt3jhxuTYtr0izzFJna0Ew2nuofi7Q7CrC4uxT4l1-anD68AR5NxNHDeBCfb9HPr8SJIdrLggbPYfpNR0bR--OF1nSbKELrdbBAn5sl5sPgA"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">has been confirmed</mark></a> in a legal opinion by Stephen Rose KC, a leading criminal barrister, which was commissioned by Sir Edward Leigh, the Father of the House.
The Creasy amendment is so extreme that the British Pregnancy Advisory Service, the UK’s largest abortion provider, has <a href="https://righttolife-org-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/2LeOzNOYrAjKy-LH7Lv70l5Zv2JepHccmeR2zRcDcKQo8rxV6lwFNvoHGhc_mnO2iFTSIOBAkr97H0wQEgOIOTXg6rCUEEqqe9zqE-x1IjLR3me0dJdtgpjbzuOrA9W-IUFUNgvaLwR_a7HC6zX_HyNzQ5zHZdp_B8KC8KuJGRaaBYka-On4h-M3qx02Tl9k3tSqaAe8XLSIUBQSHVO5gMCTh9HRjp1D5Hn9cjcGd366ktGQ-mHZNXU6IxBDkgRewxinP794E09gcH9VKitWByQZ03g"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">publicly opposed</mark></a> it after receiving its own legal opinion on the amendment.
In a briefing circulated to MPs, BPAS outlines that a legal opinion from another leading KC confirms that NC20 would <em>“largely render the Abortion Act 1967 obsolete”</em> and <em>“create a regulatory lacuna around abortion provision and access”</em>.
NC20 would repeal <a href="https://righttolife-org-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/2GVC5YYjERZud6FDJBFqIFZyWwbfztNRlIoCaqvyFRoI-rxV6lwFkTgpugYRvj6E6zJ9jRCjaLdOxC9Bl9fOp38DQZMrxT8ck-79yZniWxXgqM5b6PN_yPYEJE8Far7l5FcccUCde1K2KaR1BYiZ1YiNCpRSCOyOyLg5zzpVYNLVxYYIeRecar5-V3SD8P3OaVUvbC0LRT_AmOg_ubdkK4_E33yAvIAFv"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">sections 58 and 59</mark></a> of the Offences Against the Person Act (OAPA) and the <a href="https://righttolife-org-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/2o90GNdwQGxCSH0jNTss2kvnYvZnD1Ut5FyIdu_fGyvBArxV6lwHb_uREaAiDv_DjZ1PDPhK9ejxSimiihboPkKMqAawRyVvIybiJyTyvAXLOOQSdULK6wOEjrm-baOC0KSiYFgfWJ1ZVfl3BD4QFst0O6H2I20UuIfFk95LeTza-LIXMfcGpe1VYXLkyY6qxJ6oZJTEYQq_zN5yPe9jjfQ"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Infant Life (Preservation) Act</mark></a>.
In addition, subsection (9) of the amendment prevents any future government from using regulations to reintroduce the 24-week limit. Once removed, such limits could only be reinstated through new primary legislation.
NC20 would remove the legal safeguard for two doctors to certify an abortion and restrictions, designed to safeguard women, on where abortions could be performed.
It would also mean there would be no legal deterrent against women performing their own abortions at home using abortion pills up to birth, beyond the current 10-week legal limit for at-home abortions.
This would gravely endanger women’s health because of the increased risks associated with taking abortion pills without a prior in-person appointment after the current 10-week limit.
NC20 would also repeal <a href="https://righttolife-org-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/2KWlpxVhCfEasTjHWuYEoXA_cwoQew6QQ4GaLg7ifxltFrxV6lwEEu1dlTUday-GkF50PF8C-8_-R-K6rF7vm27A_VYbG_Dl5OrBd_CN2TQ6L_uWa6AFQe-yU7P2fqeOz5yVLEae4mxEvvSKDY4oUPKwzftBkzkSMYIx-VL4bBLi4D0UyflPnGXX_E67JyPsK8KsotkaKnsfxYrZ0OglYgbjg84i4YvR0"><mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color">Section 60</mark></a> of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861, removing key deterrents against hiding the body of a dead baby.
Section 60 makes it an offence to conceal the birth of a child by hiding the dead body of a child, after its birth, including in circumstances when the baby has been killed through infanticide.
Section 60 is important in stopping individuals from preventing an investigation into the cause of a child’s death when infanticide is suspected.
This could make it harder for police to investigate abortions that take place as a result of trafficking or abuse, since it would no longer be an offence for a woman or abortion provider, with the woman’s consent, to conceal or dispose of a dead baby after an abortion.
Amendment <a href="https://righttolife-org-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/2Pb3D5Xx1u2hZrhsxu1tkt6HkGsw_V5XB8ADi2pOYtRlLrxV6lwFPgTkf0WDhBUVxcoypsb7ve64uH4GpNtznRJJkFMsaQLudB5TCpXtJstkO2FFYzSwnUrZW3f_6tUX9xJWtdG8bWXIxyBo_pTeJg-nySndJRzdxRiYwnPU4B55rYKIRZVNDEPGuQQjZS9PaW8jY8wsZZAfDtbuY2eeU0IpekDTJTA_G-_Y9QkoBnbioZTjCey4">NC1</a>, tabled by Ms Antoniazzi, the Labour MP for Gower, would change the law so it would no longer be illegal for women to perform their own abortions for any reason, and at any point up to and during birth, likely leading to a significant increase in the number of women performing dangerous late-term abortions at home, according to campaigners.
By amending the abortion law in this way, self-administered abortions would, de facto, become possible up to birth as women could mislead abortion providers about their gestational age, as in the case of Carla Foster, who pretended to be seven weeks pregnant but took pills at 32-34 weeks gestation.
In such circumstances, neither the woman nor the abortion provider could be held accountable for a late-term abortion that occurred between our current 24-week time limit and birth.
The amendment of Dr Caroline Johnson, the Conservative MP for Sleaford and North Hykeham, would eradicate abuses by reinstating in-person consultations with a medical professional prior to an abortion taking place at home.
Dr Johnson <a href="https://righttolife-org-dot-yamm-track.appspot.com/2zCQ8RlG2Qo3ifvH6fTI7HYYQpptgNC5r7N7kyfnonqR1rxV6lwF20BfKqZSDrtlOGekXPvYbN-MEiDDp0m_OqRYDDTVrfQgP9rNcWvZYUCuzBsMTNKnhWVjVlp051Fqw8WoavNi4yZvezBQ_3TK3k0UQq3ErR_lgFSmeU5lftmzouIkh-U9HiOHDIsVW-lTOr4Ik1X7mlr9-dTGE84wOSOCNiUGxKmBmlshvYOrAcWdAtVkd0MkZriQJRvFRiRacKdn8uUNT63daw9YncTv0lj30BEuHUNY4imoj-NyW6R_12Uu_FeUpieQZg3r2fHrscyVBcjEsq3mZd6YNc0P6">said</a>: "Since its introduction, the safeguarding risks caused by the ‘pills by post’ scheme have been evident, with one man able to obtain pills by a third party to induce a woman to have an abortion against her will or knowledge, and other women taking the pills later in pregnancy, in some cases because they were mistaken about their gestation, putting themselves in danger”.
"Women would continue to be able to take abortion pills at home but, in line with public support, my amendment would reinstate prior in-person consultations so medical professionals are able to accurately assess a woman’s gestational age, any health risks and the risk of coercion before abortion pills can be prescribed”.
"This would protect women and prevent further cases of coerced or dangerous abortions arising as a result of the pills by post scheme".
<em><strong>Right to Life invites Catholic Herald readers to <mark style="background-color:rgba(0, 0, 0, 0)" class="has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color"><a href="https://righttolife.org.uk/uptobirth" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">contact your MP</a> </mark>from this link using the newly updated tool. It will only take 30 seconds to ask your elected representative to vote against the abortion amendments.</strong></em>
<em>(Photo by Leon Neal/Getty Images)</em>
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