MPs have approved a significant change to abortion law that will pardon women convicted of illegal abortions and erase records of investigations, arrests and charges, prompting concern about how far legal protections are being dismantled.
The Commons backed a Lords amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill that will expunge records for women investigated under abortion law, whether or not they were convicted. The move follows last year’s vote to decriminalise women ending their own pregnancies.
Labour MP Tonia Antoniazzi, who led the original push for decriminalisation, said the change would “protect the women already harmed by these outdated laws.” She argued that police records can affect employment and travel, even in cases without a conviction.
Supporters of the amendment framed it as a matter of fairness and compassion. However, critics argue that the measure goes far beyond addressing hardship, and instead removes accountability even in the most serious cases.
Sir Edward Leigh warned that the amendment effectively grants “free pardons” to women who carry out very late-term abortions. He pointed to the case of Sarah Catt, who induced labour at around 40 weeks of pregnancy after an affair and was later jailed. The sentencing judge said the seriousness of the offence lay “between manslaughter and murder.”
Under the new provisions, cases of this nature would also fall within the scope of pardons and record deletion.
Opponents argue that this represents a profound shift. Actions that were once recognised by the courts as among the most serious offences are now being retrospectively wiped from the record.
Shadow Home Office minister Matt Vickers criticised both the substance of the amendment and the way it was introduced, arguing that it had been “slipped” into the Bill without proper scrutiny. He said many across the country would be concerned not only by the change itself, but by the lack of thorough debate.
The Government has remained officially neutral, with minister Sarah Jones stating that its role is to ensure the law is workable. The amendment passed without a formal vote.
The direction of travel is clear. In recent years, abortion law has moved from allowing (still broad) legal exceptions, towards decriminalisation up-to-birth. This latest step goes further still, not only removing penalties going forward, but erasing past convictions, including in cases involving fully developed unborn children who were maliciously destroyed.
Speaking on the matter, SPUC CEO John Deighan, says: “This law disgraces the children who have been needlessly destroyed in the past. Once upon a time they had justice. That has now been robbed from them.
“Throughout the debate on abortion in the Crime and Policing Bill the pro-abortion MPs have tried to paint a picture of women as lacking the agency to make morally dubious decisions. This is obviously untrue. SPUC believes that unborn children whose mothers kill them in cold blood – as Sarah Catt did – deserve to be seen. This amendment means they are ignored.”
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