Growing Up With No Abortion Rights, I Saw The UK As A Pro-Choice Example – Then I Moved Here

Houses of ParliamentGrowing up in Ireland before the Eighth Amendment was repealed in 2018, everyone knew what reference to a female friend or relative’s “trip to England” really meant. Between 2010 and 2015, nearly 25,000 women and girls from the North and the Republic of Ireland visited Britain for abortions.Access to the procedure, which had been illegal in Ireland since 1861, was therefore expensive. MP Stella Creasy, involved in today’s Parliamentary vote on the decriminalisation of abortion, said it could cost £1,400 for a Northern Irish woman; hotel costs, flights, and private abortion charges were extortionate. I saw how that affected the girls close to me. My teenage friends whispered about unofficial, unsafe “procedures” that would help those facing an unplanned pregnancy; we read reports of Savita Halappanavar’s death in horror.My peers and I saw the UK as a comparative bastion of abortion rights back then, a safe haven for women seeking sometimes life-changing healthcare.But today, Parliament is voting on whether to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales. That is because, I was shocked to learn on moving here, abortion is still technically illegal in those countries as of the time of writing – since 2019, abortion in Northern Ireland has actually been decriminalised.What are the current abortion laws in England and Wales?I’ll be honest: I had no idea that in England and Wales, which I grew up thinking were far more pro-choice than Ireland (and where the majority of Irish women went for abortion pre-2018; many still go), abortion is still in and of itself a criminal act. The introduction of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (written before women could vote in the UK) made abortion a crime, and though the Abortion Act 1967 does allow people to get an abortion under certain circumstances, more women than usual have recently appeared in court for suspected illegal abortion.To my horror, I read about Nicola Packer, who was only cleared of illegally terminating a pregnancy after taking abortion pills during Covid this year.She had used a registered provider and was covered by emergency lockdown rule changes that allowed people to order abortion pills online up to 10 weeks into their pregnancy (this stayed in place after the lockdown).The Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists (RCOG) has also branded the National Police Chiefs’ Council’s new guidance on child death investigation, which details how to seize phones and search for medications used to terminate pregnancies in the homes of women after unexpected pregnancy loss, as “truly shocking”.Dr Ranee Thakar, president of the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists, said: “Under the current laws, women who have experienced unexplained pregnancy loss may... be vulnerable to criminal investigation, and health professionals placed under unacceptable and unwarranted scrutiny.“Worryingly, the fear of being investigated by the police may deter women from seeking urgent medical attention.” This is not, I’ll admit, what I thought life in the country I previously prayed I’d be able to afford visiting in the case of an unplanned pregnancy would look like. Today’s vote is therefore critical The vote taking place in Parliament today involves two proposed amendments: the first, Tonia Antoniazzi’s amendment, would see women and girls face no criminal charges for ending their own pregnancy. But medical staff and activists who enable the procedure would not be protected, leading some to worry that it would leave healthcare workers at risk.Stella Creasy’s amendment, meanwhile, would decriminalise abortion completely until 24 weeks.Late-term abortions outside of the Abortion Act would not result in custodial sentences, and the amendment would mean healthcare professionals who carry out abortion with the explicit consent of the pregnant person would also not face criminal charges (provided it took place before the 24th week of pregnancy).BPAS has publicly supported Antoniazzi’s amendment. Their head of advocacy, Rachael Clarke, said: “The uniting issue for all these groups is that women must urgently be removed from the criminal law on abortion.” MSI’s Louise McCudden told HuffPost UK: “This is a complex area and it’s important we get it right. In the meantime, we advocate for a simple reform to the law which will end the prosecution of women who have been investigated under our Victorian abortion laws.” Today’s vote might spell the biggest change to abortion law in England and Wales for nearly 60 years – changes which are shockingly overdue.Related...Exclusive: Pro-Abortion Campaigners Fear Medical Staff Could Be Prosecuted Under Law ChangesI Had An Abortion While Working A Full Day. My Co-Worker's 'Feedback' Nearly Made Me Unravel.As Campaigners Condemn 'Shocking' Police Abortion Guidance, Here's What They Want To Happen Next

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