Police can search women’s homes and phones after pregnancy loss - we need to finally decriminalise abortion
It’s time to change our ‘Victorian’ abortion laws, writes Heidi Stewart of BPAS
Update: this story was published before politicians voted to decriminalise abortion in England and Wales.
By Heidi Stewart, CEO of the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (BPAS)
When Sammy went into premature labour at around 28 weeks at her home in England, she called for an ambulance, expecting healthcare professionals to come to the aid of her and her tiny baby. He weighed just 1lb 5oz, and he was turning blue. As Sammy desperately tried to deliver CPR to her son, it wasn’t just the paramedics who arrived, but also the police.
It was 2023, and Sammy was being investigated for attempting to illegally end her pregnancy. She had disclosed on the call that when she first discovered she was pregnant, she went to an abortion clinic but was scanned at beyond the 24 weeks limit. After this, she said she was “all over the place” and considered buying abortion medication online, but changed her mind. As a result, she was now being viewed as a potential criminal, rather than as a mother in a medical crisis.
After being admitted to hospital, blood samples were taken, and her home sealed off as a crime scene. She remained under police investigation for a year, unable to visit her baby without supervision for that entire time. It is hard to believe that this could happen in this country – but Sammy sadly is not alone.
When I heard Sammy’s story, I was devastated. Over recent years, we have witnessed a rise in the number of women facing criminal investigation and prosecution under suspicion of trying to illegally end their own pregnancies - around 60 since 2018 according to some reports, compared to virtually none before this. And these are often vulnerable, distressed women who deserve compassion, not criminalising.
You may have had no idea that abortion - or even trying to have an abortion - in parts of the UK can be illegal. Under a law passed in 1861, any woman in England and Wales who ends or attempts to end their own pregnancy at any point in gestation, without the approval of two doctors, is committing a crime that carries a sentence of up to life imprisonment.
In December 2024, the police were issued with new guidance from National Police Chiefs’ Council (NPCC) that includes advice on searching a woman’s phone for menstrual tracking apps in the event of an “unexplained pregnancy loss.”
The charity I lead, BPAS, provides safe, legal, NHS-funded abortion care to more than 100,000 women a year, the vast majority of whom would have absolutely no idea that this criminal law - which has been called ‘Victorian’ - remains in place.
Sammy joined us in March to deliver a petition of over 100,000 signatures to the UK Prime Minister, calling for the decriminalisation of women. We believe that a growing awareness of the fact that women can now legally end a pregnancy using medication at home before 10 weeks of gestation, rather than having to have a surgical procedure, means that women are being treated with greater suspicion.
On Tuesday, MPs will have the chance to vote on an amendment which would end this by finally decriminalising abortion in England and Wales. Amendment NC1, tabled by the Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, would revoke the specific criminal sanction pertaining to a woman who ends her own pregnancy.
This would be a monumental change in our abortion law, the first truly progressive piece of abortion reform since the 1967 Abortion Act was passed, and would bring this country in line with others including Canada, Australia, and France, where women are already decriminalised.
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This cannot wait. We know that there are women in this country who remain under police investigation, and there is also a real risk that women will not seek medical care when needed because they fear that their pregnancy loss could result in criminalisation. This could place not only women’s health and also their lives at risk.
Will we, as a country, decide that women like Sammy deserve compassion, not criminalisation, or will we follow the dangerous trajectory towards greater restrictions that we are seeing in countries like the US? The decision rests in the hands of our elected representatives. It is now up to us to make our voices heard.
Visit the BPAS Time To Act campaign site to learn more, and if you are in the UK, email your MP ahead of the vote tomorrow.
Email sent. I'm appalled that this is in any way acceptable in the UK, and I'm wondering what changed in 2018.
This is shocking. Will definitely email my MP. Does the same apply in Scotland?