Britain's abortion laws are still in the Victorian era, and women are the collateral damage
A vote on ending prosecutions for abortion appears to have been delayed again. MPs have been expecting to vote on this issue via an amendment to the criminal justice bill, which is currently making its way through Parliament.
The change – tabled by Labour MP Dame Diana Johnson and supported by a cross-party group – would remove the possibility of women being prosecuted for illegal abortion. The amendment is one of many attached to the criminal justice bill, but selection and debate of amendments has been repeatedly delayed.
It may come as a surprise that such a change is necessary in Britain, especially after abortion was decriminalised in Northern Ireland in 2019, and France has now made it a constitutional right.
The British laws that make abortion a crime are very old, and historically have been very rarely used to prosecute women. But now, apparently due to the increased awareness of the possibility of ending a pregnancy using pills, these laws are being more actively enforced.
https://theconversation.com/britains-abortion-laws-are-still-in-the-victorian-era-and-women-are-the-collateral-damage-224673
