Georgia L. Gilholy: Abortion up to birth has no place in Britain

​Georgia L Gilholy is a journalist.

In 2023, Stella Creasy MP lied on BBC Newsnight.

The self-proclaimed “feminist” MP claimed that a foetus at 8 months “isn’t viable”.

This is despite the fact that, thanks to the genius of modern technology, each year thousands of babies survive outside the womb from as early as 22 weeks. Is anyone surprised that someone so blinkered about the reality of the unborn child is now campaigning for abortion up to birth?

Her New Clause 20 (NC20) to the Crime and Policing Bill may well be voted on today, and it is vital that all MPs, Conservative or otherwise, ensure its failure.

Her proposals would amount to the unprecedented and complete removal of legal protections for unborn children in England and Wales, leaving us with the most extreme abortion law in the world. Far from a minor “modernisation”, this amendment would effectively legalise abortion on demand, for any reason, up to birth..

Publicly, Creasy says her plans would not change the 24-week time limit set by the Abortion Act 1967.

But this is demonstrably false.

The 1967 Act only exists to provide exceptions to Sections 58 and 59 of the Offences Against the Person Act 1861 and the Infant Life (Preservation) Act 1929, the same laws Creasy’s amendment seeks to repeal. Section 1 of the Abortion Act would be amended so that it says a pregnancy can only be terminated when the listed conditions are met, but no new offences are created.

With no underlying offences left to provide exceptions to, these provisions in the Abortion Act would be rendered obsolete and would carry no legal weight.
The practical consequences of this are utterly chilling, regardless of one’s opinions on abortion in general. Sex-selective abortions would become legal. Abortions could be carried out at 38 or 39 weeks.

The amendment also seeks to bin the law that makes it a criminal offence to conceal the birth of a child, which was successfully brought to bear in the tragic case of ‘Victoria’ just last year. So much for outdated, antiquated or unnecessary laws.

Creasy doesn’t stop there.

The amendment’s subsection nine prevents any future Secretary of State from using regulations to reintroduce the 24-week limit or restrictions on sex-selective abortion. Once removed, these safeguards could only be reinstated through new primary legislation.

Even Britain’s largest abortion provider, BPAS, has raised alarm about Creasy’s plans. Legal experts advising them warned that the amendment would render the Abortion Act “largely obsolete” and create a “regulatory lacuna” around abortion. When even BPAS is cautioning against an amendment’s extremism, it is time for MPs to pay attention.

NC20 does not exist in a vacuum.

It follows the reckless rollout of the ‘pills by post’ scheme, introduced during the pandemic. This scheme, which removed the legal requirement for women to have an in-person consultation before accessing abortion, has led to tragic late-term “at-home” abortions and serious safeguarding failures.

This policy permitted the horrific case of Carla Foster, a woman who told an abortion provider over the telephone that she was seven weeks pregnant. She then took abortion pills at 8 months pregnant.

Rather than introducing further radical weakening of the law, Parliament should be focusing on restoring in-person medical checks, an idea backed by nearly 40 MPs and two-thirds of women in recent polling.

I am convinced that Creasy is wrong, and the majority of voters would agree with me. Just 1% of British women support abortion up to birth. In fact, a majority support reducing the current 24-week limit. On this issue, it is in fact women who are more protective of unborn life than men. Yet that reality is often ignored by those claiming to speak in our name.

Moreover, the UK’s upper abortion limit is already extreme compared to our European neighbours. It is double that of Germany, Belgium, Finland, and Ireland. In Europe, only the Netherlands allows abortions as late as us, and a handful of states worldwide allow terminations at 24 weeks for any reason.

Creasy’s attempt to expand our already liberal laws yet further is not feminist, compassionate, or evidence-based. It is dangerous, deceptive, and profoundly out of step with where the country actually stands.

Parliament must reject it, or dark consequences undoubtedly lie ahead.