Heather Rawling, Socialist Party National Committee
MPs voted to decriminalise abortion on 17 June. If the amendment to the Crime and Policing Bill successfully passes all its stages, women will no longer be arrested and prosecuted if they are suspected of terminating a pregnancy outside the rules of the 1967 Abortion Act. It is potentially the biggest change to abortion laws in England and Wales for over 60 years.
Abortion may be about to be decriminalised, but it has not been legalised and is not always obtainable from the NHS. The 1967 Abortion Act only allows abortions up to 24 weeks if two doctors agree that a woman’s health would be worse if she proceeded with the pregnancy.
In the past three years, six women have appeared in court charged with ending or attempting to end their own pregnancy illegally, four were prosecuted. In all those cases the women deserved compassion not prosecution.
One woman spent two years in prison after being coerced by her violent and abusive boyfriend. He escaped prosecution.
Yet the National Centre for Social Research reveals that around three-quarters of the population support the right to abortion in any circumstance and 95% believe that abortion should be allowed if the woman’s health is seriously endangered. Nearly 99% of abortions occur before 20 weeks and late abortions only occur in extreme cases.
Two amendments were put forward but only one was voted on. Tonia Antoniazzi’s amendment to decriminalise abortion passed by 242 votes.
However, an amendment to delete clauses of the 1861 Offences Against the Persons Act, which criminalise abortion outside of the 1967 Abortion Act provisions, was not voted on.
Women seek an abortion for a variety of reasons. Some, because it is not the right time for them, but for others it is because there is not sufficient provision for their needs.
For women to have genuine choice on whether, when and how many children they want, we need a fully funded NHS that can provide good maternity care, universal access to free, safe and early abortions, and free, safe and reliable contraception. We need fully paid maternity and paternity leave in the first year to care for the baby without financial worries or jeopardising jobs and impacting careers.
The cost of childcare has skyrocketed to almost £100 per day in my area. And although parents can claim some financial support it is totally inadequate – a maximum of £2,000 per year per child. And private companies are profiting, whilst often paying their staff barely above the minimum wage. We need free, publicly run, high-quality nurseries and childminding facilities staffed by qualified well-paid carers.
The cost of raising a child is massive and many women delay their families because of it. A minimum wage of at least £15 an hour would help. Many young people still live with their parents because of the lack of decent housing at rents they can afford. A massive building programme of high-quality council houses and democratically decided fair rents could guarantee decent housing for all.
The money is there to afford all of this. The top 50 richest families in the UK now hold more wealth than the poorest half of the population, comprising more than 34 million people. Take the wealth off the rich to provide the services we need.
