On 17 June 2025, British MPs took an important step in decriminalising abortion against a backdrop of rising prosecutions for ‘later’ abortion. Once the amended Crime and Policing Bill becomes law, people who voluntarily end their own pregnancies will be exempt from criminalisation. But, unless a further amendment is made, those good faith actors who provide abortion, or support others in getting access, remain at risk of criminal investigation. Five aspects of the recent legal changes are worth emphasising as lessons for a strategic perspective on defending, and even expanding, reproductive freedom.
Ruth Fletcher (Mon,) studied this question.