Mims Davies MP statement on Voting Against Decriminalising Abortion to Full Term
This incredibly important vote to decriminalise the procedure, is the biggest change to abortion laws in England and Wales for nearly 60 years.
Women who terminate their pregnancy, for example after 24 weeks, will no longer be at risk of being investigated by police.
Mims Davies MP said:
Abortion is a complex and deeply emotive moral issue and I respect people can hold very different views, perhaps even diametrically opposed views, about the subject, ranging from support for the complete autonomy of women to abort their babies for any reason up to the point of birth to those who believe there should be no access to abortion at any stage for any reason.
However, the majority of people hold a view that both the rights of women over their bodies and the rights of the unborn child to life should be considered in legislation. Many people, including myself, felt where we were on this issue was a settled and suitably balanced position.
Making a decision regarding choosing abortion can be extremely difficult and hugely personal, and I believe that we must do all we can to support women to make an informed decision, taking into consideration all their options, with medical professionals offering impartial advice during an in-person consultation. Thus, in England and Wales, women have been able to access an abortion up to a 24-week gestation period, notably almost double the time limit in most EU countries, with exceptions thereafter in a highly limited number of contexts – such as when the mother’s life is at risk or the child will have a severe disability.
It should be noted that technological advances now mean foetal viability (the ability of a foetus to survive outside the womb) occurs around 22 to 24 weeks of gestation.
However, in March 2020, as a response to Covid lockdowns, the previous Government put in place a temporary measure in England, enabling women to take both pills for early medical abortion up to ten weeks (nine weeks and six days) gestation in their own homes, following a telephone or e-consultation with a clinician, without the need to first attend a hospital or clinic.
Following consultation, the temporary arrangements were extended for six months, with the intention of returning to pre-Covid arrangements on 29 August 2022. Following a free vote on an amendment to the Health and Care Act 2022, these temporary measures were then made permanent despite widespread concern about what the lack of in-person medical oversight would bring leading to Health Ministers voting against it.
I am aware there have been calls to ‘simply bring our laws in line with that of Northern Ireland’ but I would point out that abortion is only decriminalised up to 12 weeks in NI and, crucially, there is no pills-by-post scheme.
The two amendments last week - NC1, proposed by Tonia Antoniazzi MP (Lab) and Stella Creasy MP (Lab) were recently added to the Crime and Policing Bill to be voted on and constituted the biggest changes to abortion laws for nearly 60 years. While it is absolutely right that backbench Members of Parliament are able to propose changes or amendments to the laws including around abortion, these proposals should be carefully considered, scrutinised and debated when they are introduced in Parliament.
Because it was a free vote for MPs, the Leader of the Opposition, Kemi Badenoch wrote to my colleagues and I explaining her personal decision to vote against these amendments in which she said,
‘It was rushed, with just two hours of debate that ignored many fundamental issues…it is yet another abuse of the legislative process to have passed such far-reaching legislations via a smuggled amendment at the last minute’
Sir Edward Leigh MP (Con) shared in the debate on the 17th June that his
‘concerns about these amendments were such that I and others commissioned a leading King’s Counsel to draft a legal opinion regarding their effects’
You may find this interesting, as I did, and I have provided the link to the full debate here where you can find this legal opinion:
Crime and Policing Bill - Hansard - UK Parliament
Unsurprisingly, this has proved to be a subject on which many constituents have felt compelled to write and share their views – 74% asking me to oppose the proposal to decriminalise abortion up to birth and 26% asking me to back this change.
My colleague, Dr Caroline Johnson MP, then decided to put forward a further amendment, NC106, to reinstate in-person consultations, saying,
‘at-home abortions via telemedicine are allowed only up until 10 weeks. The reason for that is not to be difficult or awkward, or to make it more difficult for women to access abortions; instead, it is a safety issue, because we know that complications are greater later in pregnancy…
We have seen an increase in incidences of people taking abortion pills late. Previously it was very difficult, if not impossible, to obtain the pills—it was certainly impossible to obtain them through NHS clinics—but now it is possible, because people can use a telemedicine clinic.’
My colleague Rebecca Smith MP noted that,
‘In the last Parliament, I, along with a number of colleagues, warned that the pills-by-post scheme for at-home abortions would cause an increase in medical complications, dangerous late abortions and coerced abortions. Sadly, those warnings have become reality. A study based on a freedom of information request to NHS trusts found that more than 10,000 women who took at least one abortion pill at home, provided by the NHS, in 2020, needed hospital treatment for complications; that is the equivalent of more than one in 17 women or 20 per day.’
Carla Lockhart MP (DUP) was clear in her view that,
‘The issue of inaccurate gestational age has led indirectly to the amendments before us today. Abortion providers have themselves conceded, and I quote Jonathan Lord, former medical director for Marie Stopes, that, until recently,
“only three women have ever been on trial over the past 160 years”
for illegal abortions. Since then, there has been an increase in investigations and prosecutions, albeit a small number compared to the quarter of a million abortions we now have every year in the United Kingdom. This small rise in prosecutions has been caused by the pills-by-post scheme, which has enabled women, either because they miscalculate their own gestational age or through dishonesty, to obtain abortion pills beyond the 10-week limit, when at-home abortions are legal and considered safe for women, and even beyond our 24-week time limit for abortions.
Decriminalisation may allow the problems with the pills-by-post scheme to be covered up, but it will not stop the problems happening. In fact, it will incentivise more dangerous late-term abortions of viable babies.’
New Zealand and the State of Victoria in Australia were both referenced in the debate as examples of jurisdictions where, after decriminalisation, there have been significant increases in late-term abortions and failed late-term abortions, in which a baby is born and there has been a lot of physical harm and risk as a result.
As I mentioned above, given the sensitivities and as with other matters of conscience, the Opposition adopted a neutral stance on abortion, allowing Conservative MPs to vote freely according to their moral, ethical or religious beliefs.
Let me be very clear on my position; I wholeheartedly support women’s reproductive rights and choice for women. However, I am personally genuinely worried that by passing NC1 while the pills-by-post scheme is still in place, we are going to see more late-term abortions, causing more risk and trauma to women. Therefore, I voted against NC1 as it is my view criminalisation of abortion after 24 weeks is not the problem; the pills-by-post scheme is.
I fully support the reinstatement of in-person consultations with a medical professional before women can take abortion pills at home. I believe re-introducing in-person consultations would provide the safeguarding and protection both women and unborn children need, and I both co-signed and voted for this measure when amendment (NC106) was proposed to the Crime and Policing Bill.
I want women to be seen, understood and listened to and have somewhere to go or turn to in these hardest of times and if there is any abuse, danger or coercion going on in their lives. We know from the grooming gangs’ scandal that women and girls can too often not be listened to and have someone to talk to – we need to keep the most vulnerable in our minds during any law making and law changes.
Like many of my colleagues, I am very concerned we have seen another rushed, ill-thought out, unscrutinised and unevidenced activist led campaign, unsupported by most of the public, being pushed into law in a matter of minutes.
While undoubtedly originating from good intentions, as with the Assisted Dying Private Members’ Bill, this is not the way to create good law, mitigate unintended consequences and introduce huge societal changes.
If you do choose to read the full debate transcript yourselves – please note you will need to scroll to nearly the end of the transcript to find, as Jerome Mayhew MP (Con) puts it so well, this
major change to abortion law … on the basis of no evidence sessions, no Committee stage scrutiny, and just 46 minutes of a Back-Bench debate and a winding-up speech by a Minister who refused to take any interventions
The votes were as follows:
NC1 – NC106
Ayes 379 Ayes 117
Noes 137 Noes 379
We shall see whether these amendments are altered in the House of Lords and I will continue to follow this most closely.
