Durham Law School

Vulnerable Women, Crisis Pregnancies and the Criminal Justice System

In February 2023, Dr Milne, with the support of a number of women's charities, briefed MPs and Peers at a meeting in the House of Lords. This briefing outlines the key issues.

Currently, in 2023, there are two women facing up to life imprisonment for ending their own pregnancies. Under sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 (and common law equivalent in Scotland), any woman in Great Britain who ends a pregnancy at any gestation, without the approval of two doctors, faces up to life imprisonment. Other criminal offences, including concealment of birth, are used to criminalise women who experience crisis pregnancies. Given the recent increase in the numbers of women facing criminal investigation under these offences, Parliament must reform this archaic legislation which threatens some of the most vulnerable women in our society.

We recommend:

Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 are repealed to remove abortion from the criminal law.
Section 60 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 is repealed to remove the offence of concealment of birth.