UK votes to decriminalize abortion

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UK votes to decriminalize abortion
The United Kingdom Parliament voted on Tuesday to decriminalize abortion at any stage of pregnancy.



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Jun 17, 2025
LONDON (LifeSiteNews) — The United Kingdom Parliament has voted to decriminalize abortion, in a move all but guaranteed to open the floodgates to unlimited abortion-on-demand.

Under the 1967 Abortion Act, abortion was legal through the first 24 weeks of pregnancy for any reason with the approval of two “registered medical practitioners” and legal up to birth if deemed necessary to prevent “grave permanent injury to the physical or mental health of the pregnant woman” or “risk to the life of the pregnant woman”; or if the child would “suffer from such physical or mental abnormalities as to be seriously handicapped,” including Down syndrome.

However, as previously covered by LifeSiteNews and the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children, pro-abortion MPs have put forth amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill to gut the U.K.’s existing abortion restrictions.

New Clause 1 by Tonia Antoniazzi MP would decriminalize any role by the woman in abortion, meaning that while the various conditions would remain in place and doctors would still be liable for violations, women could take abortion pills themselves for any reason, at any point, without consequences. New Clause 20 by Stella Creasy MP would go much further, effectively removing all legal restrictions on abortion.

The Guardian reports that the MPs voted on Tuesday to approve Antoniazzi’s amendment. Another vote must be held in both the House of Commons and House of Lords, and receive royal assent, before the change becomes law.

“It is a conscience issue, therefore it is a free vote. And therefore in that sense, it’s in the same category as assisted dying,” Prime Minister Keir Starmer told reporters at the G7 summit in Canada. “But my longstanding in principle position is that women have the right to a safe and legal abortion.”

The Washington Examiner notes that “Nearly 9 in 10 abortions in England and Wales, approximately 86%, in 2022 were medication abortion, as opposed to surgical abortion,” meaning that even the less extreme of the two amendments, New Clause 1, is enough to protect the vast majority of abortions in the U.K.

Liberalizing Great Britain’s abortion laws is out of step with majority opinion in the U.K., according to multiple polls. LifeSite recently covered an Ipsos survey finding that only 34 percent want abortion legal in “all” cases and just under half of young men (46 percent) want it legal in “all” or “most” cases. SPUC highlights a Whitestone poll finding that 62 percent agree that “Having an illegal abortion should continue to be a criminal offence to protect both the unborn and vulnerable women who could be coerced into losing a baby they may have wanted, for example by an abusive partner.”