In the past few weeks Labour Members of Parliament have tabled amendments to the Conservative Government’s Criminal Justice Bill that would decriminalise abortion – that is, remove it from the criminal law. They are using a method that has worked very effectively in recent years: hijacking a government bill to make extreme changes to abortion law.
Diana Johnson’s amendment, New Clause 1, seeks to remove sections of the criminal law so that “no offence is committed by a woman acting in relation to her own pregnancy”. This would mean a woman could carry out her own abortion at any time, for any reason.
