Activists and MPs vow to fight decriminalisation of abortion after landmark change passed with just 45 minutes of debate
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MPs and campaigners have vowed to fight abortion decriminalisation in the House of Lords after a policing bill was ‘hijacked’ to push through landmark reforms with limited scrutiny.
On Tuesday MPs voted for the biggest change to abortion law for half a century, meaning women will no longer be prosecuted for aborting their baby for any reason and at any stage up to birth.
This was introduced as an amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill – which is concerned with police powers and anti-social behaviour – meaning MPs had less than two hours to debate the most consequential change since the 1967 Abortion Act.
Tuesday night was the first time this amendment was debated in the Commons and campaigners claim that pro-choice MPs ‘hijacked’ the Crime Bill to force through the change and limit scrutiny.
Had it been introduced as a standalone Government Bill this would have guaranteed hours of debate and scrutiny, with MPs given the opportunity to amend the legislation to add safeguards.
Tonia Antoniazzi (pictured), the Labour MP who put forward the amendment, said it will remove the threat of ‘investigation, arrest, prosecution, or imprisonment’ of any woman who acts in relation to her own pregnancy
Tory MP Jerome Mayhew raised a point of order following the debate, telling the Commons: ‘We have made a major change to the abortion law, and that was on the basis of no evidence session, no committee stage scrutiny, [and] just 46 minutes of backbench debate.’
And Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood said in a letter to constituents ahead of Tuesday’s vote that she was ‘troubled’ by the amendment being introduced to the Crime and Policing Bill ‘meaning there will be less time for debate’.
The Bill still has further stages to go through in Parliament and changes could be made to the measures in the House of Lords.
Last night Catherine Robinson, of pro-life group Right to Life UK, said that campaigners ‘will be fighting this amendment at every stage in the Lords’.
‘Pro-abortion MPs hijacked a Government Bill to force through a radical and far-reaching change to our abortion laws,’ she added.
‘There has been no public consultation, no evidence sessions, no detailed scrutiny at Committee Stage – instead, the largest change to abortion law since the Abortion Act was introduced in 1967 had just over forty-five minutes of backbench debate, then a ministerial closing speech in which the minister refused to take any interventions.’
MPs vote on amendments to the Crime and Policing Bill in the House of Commons on Tuesday
Tory MP Andrew Rosindell described the way in which abortion decriminalisation was brought before the House as ‘truly shocking’.
He said: ‘These are hugely consequential changes to our abortion laws that will put many vulnerable women and viable babies at grave risk. The fact that these extreme changes were subject to such a rushed debate is lamentable.
‘Recent polling makes clear that the vast majority of the public oppose these inhumane changes to our abortion law, and it’s hardly surprising there has been such a strong backlash.’
Alithea Williams, from anti-abortion campaign group the Society for the Protection of Unborn Children (SPUC), said: ‘Shoehorning abortion decriminalisation into the Crime and Policing Bill, which has been described as “Christmas treeing”, has denied considered and mature reflection of this change, fixing a problem that simply doesn’t exist.’
Immediately after the vote, Ms Williams said: ‘We call on the Lords to throw this undemocratic, barbaric proposal out when it reaches them. We will never accept a law that puts women in danger and removes all rights from unborn babies.’
