Parliament is expected to decriminalise abortion in the next week or so when a free vote takes place on an amendment to the Criminal Justice Act, supported by both health secretary Victoria Atkins and the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists.
Ahead of the vote, Uncommon has created a campaign in support of decriminalisation for MSI Reproductive Choices (formerly Marie Stopes). The print work is based around an image of a woman behind bars and was designed by Noma Bar, who created the famous book cover for Margaret Atwood’s “The Handmaid’s Tale.”
In England and Wales, women can still be prosecuted if they terminate a pregnancy after 24 weeks. After that, deliberately ending a pregnancy still carries a maximum punishment of life imprisonment.
Partly in the wake of “pro-life” zealots in the US, where a woman’s right to choose is being steadily eroded, governments in France, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and even the Republic of Ireland have already decriminalised abortion.
Since 2022, at least six women have been taken to court and dozens have been investigated for allegedly ending their pregnancies outside the legal requirements covering abortion. In the previous 20 years, just three women were prosecuted.
