A dangerous abortion amendment seeking to remove safeguards provided in the 1967 Abortion Act has failed to be selected by the Speaker for separate decision. 

Diana Johnson, the pro-abortion Labour MP for Kingston upon Hull North, tabled the amendment to the Health and Care Bill, which sought to amend sections of the Offences Against the Person Act. 

Following a huge letter writing campaign from SPUC supporters, New Clause 50, which would make it legal for a woman to carry out her own abortion in any way, for any reason, was not selected for separate decision. 

SPUC has expressed enormous gratitude to all pro-life supporters who wrote to their MP in a bid to defeat this amendment. 

Michael Robinson, SPUC Executive Director said: “Thank you so much to all of you who contacted your MP at very short notice to oppose Diana Johnson's deadly and irresponsible amendment. Many MPs have received the message loud and clear that we will not tolerate such extreme and barbaric practices.

“New Clause 50 was a huge threat to unborn babies. It would have also put women at risk by incentivising “do-it-yourself” abortions and removing safeguards in the 1967 Abortion Act, leaving them more vulnerable to hawkers of online abortion pills. 

“We hope that being defeated again will prove to Diana Johnson and her pro-abortion colleagues  that there is no appetite for a more extreme abortion regime in this country. If Ms Johnson or another pro-abortion MP do try to decriminalise abortion again, we will be ready to take action to protect unborn babies and their mothers.” 

"The most basic human right is the right to life"

Pro-life MPs had also tabled three other amendments to the Health and Care Bill, seeking to amend the upper gestation limit for abortion to 22 weeks, explicitly ban- sex selective abortion and lower the limit for abortion in cases of disability. 

Pro-life MP’s spoke passionately in defence of unborn babies and their mothers.

Carla Lockhart MP said: “We know that women are being coerced into having abortion based on sex selection. 

“This was confirmed by a 2015 report from the Department of Health which detailed the awful testimonies of women who were forced into a sex selective abortion. This problem has been made much worse by the use of abortion pills to be taken at home. Abusive partners who do not want a particular sex of a child, usually a girl, can more easily force their partner into having an abortion via telemedicine.  

"Legal clarification on sex selective abortion is urgently needed for the sake of women and the missing girls who are the victims of this abhorrent practice.  

“This is at heart a debate about human rights and the most basic human right is the right to life.”