The Christian Medical Fellowship (CMF) in the U.K. has warned that proposed changes to the country’s abortion laws could jeopardize the health and safety of women and children, calling efforts to decriminalize abortion a “misguided” move that would strip away vital safeguards.
A report by The Guardian British newspaper states that two Labour Members of Parliament Tonia Antoniazzi and Stella Creasy will put forward amendments to change the law for a planned vote on decriminalizing abortion in England and Wales, likely this summer.
Current law criminalizes abortion under the tenets of the Abortion Act 1967, which permits women to allow the killing of unborn children in the womb up to 24 weeks gestation or beyond that timeframe in particular scenarios, namely if the mother could die or the child is diagnosed with an abnormality.
Abortion pills sent by post were allowed in the Covid pandemic in 2020, pending a remote medical consultation. In 2022, Parliament voted to make the practice permanent.
Yet the law states that the inducement of a miscarriage is a criminal act, punishable with a prison sentence.
Antoniazzi, speaking in a 2022 House of Commons debate, criticized the current framework as outdated and restrictive.
“Abortion in Great Britain is still a criminal offence; the Abortion Act 1967 simply made abortion legal in certain, fixed circumstances,” she said. “It is a product of its time, enacted in part to ensure that women no longer suffered serious health problems, or even death, because they were too afraid to seek medical help after an abortion.
“It is therefore ironic that its requirements, designed to pass parliament more than half a century ago, risk women’s health. As we know, the Abortion Act requires that two doctors approve each request for a termination—a legal requirement that serves no clinical or safety purpose and often delays the process, despite abortion being safer the earlier that it is performed.
“The fact that abortion continues to sit in criminal law has a chilling effect on medical practice and the willingness of doctors to authorise abortions.”
In contrast, the Christian Medical Fellowship argues that removing abortion from criminal law would increase—not reduce—risks to women. In a statement shared with Christian Daily International, Dr. Susan Marriott, CMF’s Head of Public Policy, emphasized the danger of loosening legal protections.
“Decriminalising abortion would remove key safeguards for women and their unborn children,” Marriott said. “Politicians would be misguided to consider this a necessary step.
“Tragic stories of women who have been failed by abortion providers should instead motivate an end to abortion pills being distributed by post.
“Politicians who share concern for these women should not seek decriminalisation but a return to in-person assessments, which would restore a vital safeguard, the erosion of which has put many women at risk.”
