MPs Vote to Decriminalise Abortion

In total, the majority of 242 votes have agreed to remove criminal law on women over abortion in England and Wales, which means that women are now allowed to terminate their pregnancy at any stage of their pregnancy without the risk of being investigated by the police.

On June 17th 2025, MP Tonia Antoniazzi put forward the amendment to the Crime and Policing bill and won the support of 379 MPs.She states that the abortion law set 60 years ago is “used against vulnerable women and girls.” and that “these women need care and support, and not criminalisation".

Since 2020, over 100 women have been criminalised for having abortions after 24 weeks. The amendment put forward by Antoniazzi has raised a few concerns . Katherine O’Brien from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service describes the amendment as being unworkable for abortion providers, claiming that the amendment would “jeopardise women’s ability to access care in this country by creating in effect a regulatory lacuna”.

The amendment would not change the legal limit in which a woman could access abortion, that would remain at 24 weeks unless there are special circumstances. Women still need to However, it would protect women who have had terminations and miscarriages from facing legal persecution. This would help women like the case of Nicola Parker, who was arrested after delivering a stillborn baby at home after taking abortion medicine when she was 26 weeks pregnant.

The amendment was passed and this has brought the most substantial change to abortion law since 1967.