More than 1,000 doctors and nurses have urged members of the House of Lords to oppose a provision in the Crime and Policing Bill that would decriminalize abortion up to birth
The medical professionals are warning of serious risks to women’s health and how viable babies would be killed in late-term abortions.
In a letter signed by 1,015 senior obstetricians, gynecologists, midwives and medical professors, the medical professionals expressed “grave concerns” about the legislation, which they said would decriminalize abortion up to birth and pose “serious risks to women’s health, particularly given the medical dangers associated with late, self-administered abortions.”
The letter also called for peers to support reinstating in-person consultations before abortion pills are prescribed, describing it as “an important part of safeguarding (to protect against coerced abortion) and would enable medical professionals to ensure that abortion pills are only prescribed in cases when it is both medically safe and legally compliant to do so.” Mail order abortions are also injuring thousands of women every month in the United States.
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The provision at issue, Clause 208, was introduced as a surprise amendment by Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi and attached to the government bill. It passed the House of Commons last year after just 46 minutes of debate, with 379 MPs in favor and 137 against.
The change would remove criminal liability for abortions up to birth and for any reason, such as sex selection.
The bill is now at report stage in the House of Lords, where peers are set to vote today on amendments — one to remove Clause 208 entirely and another to reinstate requirements for face-to-face medical consultations before prescribing abortion pills.
Pro-life peer Baroness Monckton, who tabled the amendment to remove the clause, criticized the lack of scrutiny.
“This radical clause was added to the Bill after less than an hour of debate by MPs, and without the necessary scrutiny required for an issue of such seriousness,” Monckton said. “Whatever one’s views on abortion, this is not how responsible laws are made.”
Baroness Stroud, who tabled the amendment on in-person consultations, said: “I, and many others, warned of the dangers of the ‘pills by post’ scheme when it was introduced. Sadly, those warnings have come true. This change has widespread public support and would better protect women by helping prevent further cases of coerced or dangerous late-term abortions linked to the pills by post scheme.”
The “pills by post” policy, made permanent in 2022 after its introduction during COVID, has raised concerns about unverified gestational ages and coercion risks, including a case involving a man who spiked a woman’s drink with abortion pills, leading to a miscarriage.
Former Tory justice minister Laura Farris said: “A few hours of debate, in the context of a Government Bill, without the amendment even having been considered at Committee stage in the Commons, is not the right approach for this. If it is the will of Parliament to make this change, the Government should facilitate proper policy and legal thinking on this matter and make time for proper scrutiny.”
If the Lords approve the amendments, the bill would return to the Commons for further consideration.
