Everything You Need To Know About The MP Vote On Decriminalising Abortion

Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi has brought forward one of two amendments that would decriminalise abortion (Alamy)

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MPs have been offered a 'free vote' on whether to remove criminal penalties for women who illegally end their own pregnancies.

MPs will potentially have the chance on Tuesday to vote for an amendment which would prevent women from being prosecuted for getting an abortion of their own pregnancy.

With two different amendments proposed on the topic, decriminalisation could look different depending on what MPs choose to vote for.

Here is everything you need to know:

What is a free vote?

In UK parliamentary terms, a free vote allows MPs and ministers to vote according to their conscience, rather than along party lines, particularly on sensitive moral or ethical issues, such as abortion. The government's position on a free vote is neutral, but Cabinet ministers can also choose to vote with their conscience.

The government also allowed MPs a free vote last year on a Labour MP Kim Leadbeater’s Private Member’s Bill, which seeks to legalise assisted dying for terminally ill people. The Bill was supported by MPs and will return to the Commons for another vote this Friday.

What is the current law on abortion in England and Wales?

Legal abortion is widely accessible across England and Wales up to 24 weeks of pregnancy, having been legalised through the Abortion Act 1967. Abortions beyond 24 weeks are only legal where there is a serious risk to the woman’s life or health or a severe fetal abnormality.

Under the current law, women can be prosecuted for carrying out an abortion after 24 weeks into their pregnancy, or before 24 weeks without the approval of two doctors.

Campaigners have estimated that more than 100 women have been prosecuted for a suspected abortion in the last 10 years, leading to calls for the law to be updated. In some cases, women have had their sex lives examined in court for several years before their names are cleared, including women who had naturally given birth prematurely or had stillbirths.

What are MPs voting on?

MPs will be voting on numerous clauses in the government’s Crime and Policing Bill, which include two amendments tabled by Labour backbench MPs on decriminalising abortion in England and Wales. MPs are likely to get a free vote on one of these two amendments, but probably not both.

Welsh Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi’s amendment (NC1) proposes that women would no longer face prosecution if they end a pregnancy after 24 weeks or without approval from two doctors, effectively removing pregnant women from the criminal law related to the abortion of their own pregnancies. However, medical professionals would not be exempt from prosecution, and the legal 24-week limit would remain in place.

London Labour MP Stella Creasy’s amendment (NC20), while also aiming to decriminalise abortion, takes this further and proposes making abortion a human right. It would remove criminal penalties for both women and medical professionals involved in abortions, remove the 24-week limit, and ensure those who undergo a late-term abortion – including up to birth – are not subject to prison sentences.

What are the arguments for these amendments?

Despite illegal abortions generally involving very vulnerable women – including women experiencing domestic abuse, mental health challenges or barriers to accessing healthcare – prosecutions of women have been increasing in recent years.

Both amendments would remove “police suspicion” and prevent women from being subjected to lengthy investigations, criminal charges and custodial sentences for ending their own pregnancy. This could also remove stigma which prevents vulnerable women from seeking support and healthcare.

Creasy’s amendment also decriminalises the medical providers involved and embeds abortion access into a rights framework that could resist future restrictions. It offers regulatory backup via the Equality and Human Rights Commission if access is threatened.

What are the arguments against these amendments?

After 24 weeks in the womb, a fetus is potentially viable, i.e., capable of surviving outside the womb with medical support. Scientists are also divided over whether fetuses may be capable of feeling pain after 22–24 weeks, prompting ethical concerns from some critics of both amendments.

Opponents of decriminalisation also argue that extending general access to abortion beyond 24 weeks could open the door to abortions based on non-medical reasons, for example, the gender of the fetus.

Critics of both amendments, including some Christian groups, have warned that they would legalise self-managed abortion up to birth, which could risk women having an unsafe ending to their pregnancy without any medical oversight. Some MPs share these concerns: The Times reported that Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood wrote a letter to her constituents describing the proposed changes as potentially “dangerous" for women's physical and mental health wellbeing.

While Antoniazzi’s amendment has more widespread support, no major abortion providers have backed Creasy’s amendment, and BPAS and MSI Reproductive Choices have argued that it could disrupt clinical services and was unvetted scientifically.

Legal experts have also warned that Creasy’s amendment would act as an immediate and major departure from current abortion laws, and could therefore unintentionally remove safeguards such as protections against coercive abortions and violent third parties.

PoliticsHome understands that some MPs feel that the Crime and Policing Bill is the wrong place for Creasy's amendment, as the clause would effectively rewrite the Abortion Act – a legislative upheaval that should require more time and careful scrutiny.

How likely are the amendments to pass?

Antoniazzi’s amendment has been backed by more than 170 cross-party MPs, as well as having the support of medical organisations such as the British Medical Association and provider groups such as the British Pregnancy Advisory Service and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.

However, these organisations have not backed Creasy’s amendment, and a number of MPs who previously supported NC20 have now withdrawn their names.

Antoniazzi’s amendment, however, still has widespread support across the Labour Party and other parties, as well as reportedly up to two-thirds of Cabinet ministers. It is therefore widely expected to pass if selected for a vote.

It is currently unknown whether the Speaker will choose Antoniazzi’s amendment or Creasy’s amendment to go up for debate, with some parliamentary officials telling Politico that he is likely to select both.

If both are selected, Antoniazzi’s amendment would be debated and voted on first. If the amendments are considered to contradict each other, there would then be no vote on Creasy's amendment.

What would happen next?

If Antoniazzi’s amendment passes, it will remain part of the Crime and Policing Bill as it enters the House of Lords for further scrutiny. The government could then introduce implementation regulations, with future policy and parliamentary oversight determining the scope of reform.

There is some appetite among MPs for further reform of the Abortion Act 1967, which would go further in decriminalising abortion entirely. However, this would likely have to come in the form of a Private Member's Bill, similarly to how Leadbeater's assisted dying bill was introduced.

There are also fears that it could stoke the abortion debate in the UK in a similar way to how it has divided political opinion in the US. However, many MPs feel this currently seems unlikely when the vast majority of the British public supports women's right to choose an abortion.