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Women shouldn’t have to jump through hoops to access abortion healthcare, says MP Stella Creasy
THE PACE OF change is slower than we hope. Last year was the first that women in leadership positions in the top FTSE 350 companies reached more than 30%. The Lionesses might have taken us to national greatness at the Euros, but they still earn less in a year than Harry Kane does in a week. And when it comes to our bodies, the rights of women in England and Wales are stuck in the past.
Until 1967 abortion carried a life sentence in England because of the 1861 Offences Against the Person Act. When the 1967 Abortion Act came into force, it permitted abortion up to 24 weeks, but the initial 1861 law was never repealed – abortion still carries criminal sanctions. Women must convince at least two doctors that continuing with an unwanted pregnancy will damage their physical or mental health in order to be allowed to end it. In contrast to every other country in Western Europe, Canada, Australia and New Zealand, women here do not have a right to abortion ‘on request’.
Now, a cross-party group of MPs has put forward an amendment to decriminalise abortion before 24 weeks in England and Wales. This would not change the time limits under which an abortion is available, it would simply place abortion before 24 weeks on a par with other medical treatments, where it can be authorised and carried out by a single approved clinician, based on the consent of the woman. This would preserve a woman’s bodily autonomy and right to choose, as well as bringing us in line with other countries. It would also have a knock-on effect on clinic accessibility and wait times, freeing up doctors’ time.
Abortion is a time-sensitive procedure – the earlier a woman can access healthcare, the less invasive the treatment. Yet our current restrictions mean access requires multiple appointments. Research has found that
