Abortion laws in your country might not be what you think

A blog by Alice Palmer, Young Expert at GHRH

Though there is a general trend towards more liberal abortion laws globally, countries like Nicaragua, El Salvador, Poland and the United States of America (US) have very recently restricted theirs. In eager anticipation of the US presidential election decided earlier this year, political commentators discussed whether Harris’s promise to decriminalise abortion at a federal level would win over the nation. The inability to understand “what it must feel like” to be a woman (or any person able to conceive) in the US, a country with total abortion bans in some states and other laws at risk of regressing further, is a constant thought in my brain and a common topic of discussion amongst the women and girls close to me.

This difficulty we experience empathising, however, is somewhat misplaced. The United Kingdom, where I live, is an outlier amongst Global North countries in that, unlike 77 others, it does not have the most liberal kind abortion legislation categorised as ‘abortion on demand’ - it falls into the category below, allowing abortion on ‘broad social or economic grounds’. A generous reading.

Abortion access in England, Wales and Scotland is legislated for by the Abortion Act 1967 (the Act). Since it first came into place in 1967, the Act has only been amended once - in the 90s, to allow for greater restriction rather than greater access. The Act outlines the circumstances in which abortion is permitted, with abortion falling outside of these circumstances being a criminal act punishable by a life sentence. Briefly, the circumstances are that a woman must be no more than 23 weeks pregnant and that continuation of the pregnancy presents a risk of injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman or her existing children or a risk that the child would suffer from serious physical or mental abnormalities if born. These do not read to me as ‘broad social or economic grounds’, but more as ‘to preserve health’, the category still below.

The Act amends ss58-59 of the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861, under which it is illegal to “procure a miscarriage” by any means. In a case that took place during covid-19 lockdowns, for example, Carla Foster was initially sentenced to 28 months in prison for self-administering abortion pills after the 23-week threshold outlined by the Act.

For a long time, legislation was more progressive in England et al. until Northern Ireland rolled out the Abortion (Northern Ireland) (No. 2) Regulations 2020 under its devolved powers. These regulations decriminalise abortion entirely (meaning those obtaining abortion past certain limits would not be subject to a criminal trial and custodial sentences), permit terminations in all circumstances in the first 12 weeks of pregnancy, and impose no term limit on abortions in cases of fatal fetal abnormality. The adoption of this change in Northern Ireland, however, has been slow and ridden with obstacles. In practice, the NHS was funding for women to travel to England for some abortions well into 2020 during covid-19 lockdowns.

Critics of the changes in Northern Ireland are still fighting to roll them back and legislators like Stella Creasy MP are still fighting to liberalise laws in England, Wales and Scotland against immense pushback.

Despite my being a law student interested in abortion as a political issue as well as a personal one (I guess the personal really is political…), this all came as a real surprise to me. I always regarded abortion as an option available to me. I, very naively, assumed I had the right to an abortion in England.

I hope this can be a cautionary tale of sorts, encouraging you not to be as naive as I was and to check what abortion laws are in your country. The Center for Reproductive Rights is a great place to start.

*The opinions expressed on this blog are those of the Young Experts and do not necessarily reflect the views or official positions of the Girls Human Rights Hub. The content shared here is intended to provide insights and perspectives on girls human rights and human rights issues, but it is important to recognise that individual opinions may vary.

Bibliography

Abortion Act 1967 c. 87. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/1967/87/contents (Accessed: 10 November 2024)

‘Abortion in NI: Timeline of key events’ (2022) BBC News [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-northern-ireland-politics-56041849 (Accessed: 12 November 2024).

Morgan, D. (2024) ‘Kamala Harris says her first priority as president is to “stop this pain” resulting from abortion bans’, CBS News [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.cbsnews.com/news/kamala-harris-on-abortion-first-priority-as-president-restoring-roe-v-wade/ (Accessed: 15 November 2024).

Offences against the Person Act 1861 c. 100. Available at: https://www.legislation.gov.uk/ukpga/Vict/24-25/100/contents (Accessed: 10 November 2024)

Rack, S. (2023) ‘Carla Foster: Mother jailed over lockdown abortion to be released’, BBC News [Preprint]. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-65581850 (Accessed: 12 November 2024).

The world’s abortion laws (2024) Center for Reproductive Rights. Available at: https://reproductiverights.org/maps/worlds-abortion-laws/ (Accessed: 10 November 2024).